making truth my priority

a bit more than a year ago, I saw something happen.

I was quite pregnant + spent my days at home watching more Criminal Minds than is healthy for any one person. I rarely left our apartment, and the vast majority of my social interaction took place on twitter.

looking on from my comfortable, undisturbed spot on the couch, I witnessed two women make plans to follow a reading plan on the youversion app, together. I watched on as a few other women asked which plan, as a few more decided to join in. and so I made my way to the app, opened up the soul detox plan, and clicked start on the most transformative year of my life thus far.

I tend to be rather good at forgetting. or flat-out not doing. when life overwhelms, my priorities really shine through. my bible becomes expendable. my day becomes a mere schedule to execute, tasks left unfinished become stumbling blocks.

it didn't take long to find that having a plan set out for me helped to make reading my bible non-negotiable. I got to check off the sections I'd finished, and keep up with the rest of the quickly-growing community. soon, those checkmarks + the accountability weren't the things keeping me going in my reading. wanting that time with God was my motivation.

soon I was finishing up the first plan, the second, and the third. I was cheering with the She Reads Truth girls as they published their first plan, and listening as they took turns pouring out their hearts.

for the first time in years, I found myself captivated by the words in front of me. [this from the girl whose undergraduate major was biblical studies + who taught herself biblical greek.] never would I have guessed that I would wake a mere three hours after giving birth to my daughter, pull out my bible + journal, and scribble fevered notes while my husband + new baby slept through the sunrise.

but that's what this community has fostered. it's not about waking up to catch the morning sunlight shining on bible pages + fresh coffee + perfectly journaled typography, trying to gain as many little instagram hearts as possible. it's about digging in, poring over pages, desperate for more of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

it's about making Him a priority.
it's about clinging to His truth.

 if this is your first time hearing about She Reads Truth, be sure to check out their website. 

God is moving in the hearts of women all over the world + you don't want to miss out!

embrace your season

Usually when one goes to college or university, their stay is relatively brief. A few years in a campus environment before graduation, and then on to whatever lies next. Apparently I’m not like the usual ones. After high school, I, like most of my senior class, left my hometown to partake in some kind of further education. My parents’ minivan was packed for a four hour drive to a tiny university town one province over.

Five years later I had a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies, one year of a two-year Bachelor of Education down, and had recently celebrated my first wedding anniversary. A few weeks into the second year of my BEd, I decided that teaching wasn’t what God had called me to; that for me, to quit was to win.

Since we were already settled in and my husband had a good job in town, we decided to stay until the end of the school year. There is a Christian fellowship group on campus which I’ve been blessed to be a part of since I was a freshman; over the years it has become a fairly comfortable community in which we are able to worship and draw near to God.A few other married couples in the group meant that we had peers who could relate to our married lives. We led bible studies and poured into younger ones, whether they were students or not.

Then we got pregnant …

Click here to read the rest of my post over on Diana's blog.

the meaning of community

yesterday, while I was talking about running after an increase of passion + desperation for Jesus in my life, I quickly mentioned the community by which I’ve been blessed over the past seven years. here's a bit more.

I graduated from high school in 2006 and moved one province over, to Nova Scotia. I studied at a small, formerly catholic {now secular} school whose numbers doubled the town’s population while school was in session. I chose StFX over a bigger school in a city {Carleton University in Ottawa was a major contender} for the education.
tiny school = more one-on-one time = better learning environment, right?

in my freshman year, I relished the thought of being away from home for the first time, out from under the gaze of my parents, eager to not have to go to church on sundays or have to go to bed at a decent hour. excited to be in a residence with hundreds of students my age, including my boyfriend + my best friend, who happened to be roommates.

I wasn’t looking for a relationship with Jesus. I had been down that road before; I’d been hurt by my home church in the year prior + I figured I'd move on from the whole christian scene. little did I know that the summer youth director at my church had emailed the then-leader of the christian fellowship group on campus, asking him to look out for the three students who would be coming from her youth group.

on society night, as we checked out the clubs + groups available to us throughout the school year, we happened upon the christian fellowship’s table. the three of us signed our names + email addresses, although I’ll admit, I didn’t have any intention of actually going to their meetings. they were sure to be lame.

but when we placed the pen back on the table, the guy sitting by the sign looked at the paper + then back up at us with excitement. "you’re the Miramichi crew!” he exclaimed. he remembered our names from the youth director’s email + was intentional about following up with us. this made all the difference to me. now it was personal.

we met a few more people who were a part of xavier christian fellowship over the next few days, and went to the year’s first meeting, which turned out to be a worship service. they held these each friday night + they. were. super.

over the next few years I would learn the meaning of community.

 

in this strange little place, christians shared {at least a good portion of} their possessions. they worshipped, prayed, ate + did life together. it’s not something you expect to see on a university campus. it’s not something that many adult christians have even managed to accomplish organically {none at all, that I’ve seen}. but this group of forty-or-so 18-22 year olds had it down to a science. it wasn’t forced. there wasn’t any real effort put forth. it just was.

and we lived it.

in my senior year, I lived in a house with five ladies from the christian fellowship. a seventh woman lived downstairs in the basement apartment, and five more next door. there was a house down the street where three guys lived + another across town with six other members divided into the home’s two apartments.

the boyfriend + I got married after graduation, so we don't live with others in the community anymore, but the group still meets as a whole for dinner once a week, with many pockets of brothers + sisters dining together at other points. there are four different bible studies, two prayer groups, and a worship service, all spread out through the week. for the most part, the groups are facilitated by full-time students. the fellowship as a whole is completely volunteer-based. completely love-based.

my hope is that the students who remain here once we’ve gone will not take for granted the community that has been established. that they will pour out time + heart + money from their own pockets -- freely + without hesitation. because it’s what they’re called to do.

each one is a “broke student,” yet those with the least are offering drives to the grocery store, contributing to potlucks, giving up precious time to pray with their brothers + sisters. because it’s what they’re called to do.

doing life together.

because it’s what we’re called to do.