PRIDE

Our world offers fixes. Our world offers distractions. It offers temporary highs and conditional happiness. It informs us on what we need to be happy. It tells us who we need to BE to find contentment. It tells us who we need to look for to find love.   But these long scavenger hunts never lead to a solution or anything close to contentment or joy. The world puts unattainable standards right under our nose to make us think “if only I had…” and “it’s so close…just a little more” and it always ends in disappointment.  Most commonly for girls in their 20s, and maybe guys as well, this unattainable standard or desire is in the form of an imaginary, perfect person. And once you find this person, you will be complete in every way. You will finally be able to love yourself, feel appreciated, feel like you are worth something… all because this other broken person found you and said they liked you, and maybe even that they needed you. Why is that so tempting for us ...

8 weeks… EIGHT WEEKS! How has it been that long already since I came back to Slovakia?? Time is flying by so fast.  One thing that has been on my mind a lot in these last couple weeks is the amount of change that has happened in just the last year. I remember back to last year before I left to come here, and I remember a young, prideful, lost girl who was desperate to find healing and a sense of identity. And as I think through every month and every experience that has lead to this month, this day, I am in awe at the growth and maturity that God has cultivated in my heart. I remember the girl that came to Slovakia to run away from broken relationships, that wanted nothing to do with missionary life, that could care less about youth ministry but loved music… And now? It’s hard to believe that the woman I see in the mirror is thinking about living here in Slovakia for longer; that the woman in the mirror is more than content without a normal “college experience”; that the woman ...