Inaugural post

I sit here, in my workout clothes, practically glued to the computer as I try my best to figure out all the settings for another blog. I've not done well blogging for our photography site, so I really shake in my boots at the thought of taking one another. Yet I am compelled. These things that are happening in my heart, in our lives, in our discussions need to be shared. I don't know why. Maybe you will. I hope that my efforts (and less laundry and cleaning done) will benefit someone. I pray that my words will urge you, peak your interest, whet your own appetite for adventurous living with Christ. Can God use an ordinary life? The answer is a resounding YES. The secret is that you don't get to choose what that looks like.

As every high schooler does, I dreamt about what my life might look like ten years down the line. (It's now been 20 years, so I can speak to this with authority!) I filled in my little senior book with my happy picture: I would be a newscaster in Colorado (what could be a prettier location?), have a husband, children, a Rottweiler and a Saab with a white picket fence running around my yard. Life would be so good. I would be thinner, tanner and my hair would be grown out nice and long. It was a dream about one thing: ME.

Fortunately, God grabbed ahold of me while I attended Wheaton College and did not permit me to attempt such a selfish indulgence. I actively searched for my new path in life, officially changing my major 7 times! (It was a true miracle that I graduated in just 4 years.) I couldn't seem to decide. One night as my friends and I attended a campus movie,"The Mission,"  God spoke to my heart. It was so clear, there was no avoiding it. No shushing it. God's voice was clear and succinct: "WILL YOU GO?" The Holy Spirit was speaking and I wondered who else could hear! I looked over at my long line of friends in the seats surrounding me, they were engrossed in the film, seemingly not hearing the words that were now echoing repeatedly in my head. WILL YOU GO? WILL YOU GO? WILL YOU GO? My heart began to beat faster and faster. I suddenly realized I had to leave. I bolted from the chapel and ran back to my dorm room. Every time my feet hit the pavement I could hear the words with each step: WILL--YOU--GO? I flew up the stairs to my floor and went into the laundry room. I shut the door and stood there in the dark amazed that even the washing machines repeated the words of the Lord as they did their scrubbing duty. Tears began to stream down my face and I realized what He was saying to me. My quest for a life goal! Here it was, being given me when I least expected it! I boldly answered my Lord in that laundry room, my back up against the closed door, "Yes, Lord, I don't really know what you mean, but I will go. I WILL GO!"

So began my journey following God's dreams for me. I learned over time that I could never dream bigger or better than He already had. Each time I thought I had it figured out, it would totally change and His way would prevail. But I get ahead of myself. I'll have to post again. For now, I've got a workout to get in!