It is Well

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Wednesday already. The sun is shining and buses are cranking on the street below - just like any other day. But today, today is five bags packed to 50lbs and an empty flat. It's one last walk through my favorite park and bizarre meals from leftover ingredients in our kitchen. It's "hooray" one minute and "I'll miss this" the next. Today is the end of an incredible year and the beginning of something new, no doubt just as wonderful and full of blessing.

That's why Ann Voskamp's writing was just what I needed this morning. She wrote of not letting life be about the number of things we've checked on a bucket list. Instead, since God's already filled our cup with all we need, letting it be about pouring out our lives.

It's been tempting at times to think joy lies in experiences, especially with the opportunities we've had to travel and do new things this year. In the end, though, I've found that a bucket of experiences doesn't make life worthwhile or enlivening. Despite all the experiences, learning to be content has been a theme for me this year.

That's why when Ann says, "exhilaration isn't in experiences, but in exalting Christ" my soul says yes. There are a lot of unknowns about this next phase. It's easy to let myself worry about what will or won't happen. In the end though, it's not about what I will or won't experience; it's about acknowledging what I already have. Once I do that, I can pour my life out like a gift. I'm free to love.

My cup is full and it is well with my soul.

Read Ann Voskamp's, Best Bucket List.

Michaela Rae

It is Well with My Soul

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The words from, It is Well with My Soul, have been in my head all day. I can't help but think of all the things, big and small, that are blessing my soul this week. But I know it's not always like that. A few days ago I wrote about obedience and this morning Horatio Spafford's words have helped me think of a new way to practice it: I'm going to say, "it is well," through life's ups and downs and inevitable changes.

It is well with my soul because:

+ God doesn't compare me to anyone else in order to determine whether or not I'm loveable. He just loves.
+ After nearly a year, we get to see family in a little over a week.
+ Kurt and my differing study habits is teaching me patience and selflessness.
+ Goodbyes are only "see you later"s for brothers and sisters in Christ.
+ God forgives our sins. Even the ones that sometimes come back to haunt us.
+ Our last days in London have been sunny 70 degree ones.

I'm going to make this a regular thing that I document here. Perhaps it will encourage you and I know it will encourage me. It'll be a weekly series and I'll put an archive link on the side bar. That way when I think life is unfair or something's unbearable, I'll learn to say and believe that it is well. God is on my side.

Michaela Rae