Silence Is Golden

It's been awhile, I know.

I'm not sure if anyone missed reading, but I sure missed writing.

I didn't exactly plan it that way, but sometimes when there is so much happening in a brain and heart, it can be hard to know how to express it. Truth is, there is always something running through my mind. It's often hard for this little internal processor to shut things down, so if you thought the silence was for lack of mental angst, you'd be sorely mistaken.

It may take months or even years for the last 6 months' growth to make it to the screen. What have I been up to, you might ask?

It's best summed up in Andy Stanley's sermon from a series You'll Be Glad You Did entitled "Part 2: Get Out, Stay Out, & Clean Out." I highly recommend taking a listen, especially for all you singles out there. He spells out three things to focus on: get out of debt, stay out of bed, clean out your (emotional) closet.

My roommate passed along the sermon at a time when the encouragement was paramount. It'd been about a month and a half into the new year, the year of "hope infusion."

I'd been working on some things, particularly getting out of debt and cleaning out my closet, investing a lot of time and money, even more head and heart. A little bit struggling to maintain an attitude that it was OK to be in a place that felt incredibly selfish. And Andy's words hit me like a direct line from God saying "Daughter, you are exactly where you need to be. Keep walking, keep sowing, keep trusting."

The message was so encouraging, in fact, that I proceeded to listen to it two more times. Just to reinforce what I'd heard. Proof it's easier for me to pour out than to get poured into...but I'm learning a healthier balance of that in my life.

After a strong kick in the butt from this lovely lady (who is now DEBT-FREE!), and a ridiculously strong God-prompt in January, I enrolled in a 9-week course about finances. Ugh. It's not at all what I wanted to do. Several months ago I recall a conversation with another debt-free friend, carrying on as if my student loans were no big deal, that they weren't truly impacting my life, and would be paid off "someday." Straight up lies I told myself in my ignorance. I can say with gratefulness, this past Monday my roommate and I graduated from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University!

And I'm gonna brag just a little bit and say we weren't just any students. We were stellar. No half-in, half-out for us. It was full on. Budget forms, and homework, and reading, and insurance appointments, and phone calls, and more budgeting, and cash envelopes, and class time, and more phone calls, and more budgeting, whew! A whole whopping heck of a lot of learning. And by the grace of God, I hope to be debt-free by the time I turn 30.

I absolutely cannot wait for the day. These student loans will no longer own me. Jesus died for our freedom. So I am going to live free. I'm currently a slave...

But I'm now a dangerous slave with knowledge and gazelle intensity. Plotting her course to true freedom. Covered in His armor, offensively walking in grace with Christ in this world.

Absolutely humbling.

And absolutely grateful that He is "the hand that reaches down to save."

Check out All Sons & Daughters' "I Am Set Free" and while you're at it, go ahead and let the lyrics get stuck in your head. I guarantee your attitude will change as the Scriptural truth sinks deeper with each step you take.

May He continue to mend our lives with His holy fire.