Daily Delight
When I left college, I moved far from family and friends. No longer leading a Bible study, building sets, meeting with friends every week, having date nights, unable to come home for most family events, it wasn’t long before I struggled with knowing who I was. Worse, for everyone back home, life went on! I’m sure they missed me, but they didn’t need me. I was more than discouraged, but a beautiful love story emerged from the heartache. Taking long walks in the park, I discovered God’s presence in the solitude.Missing my friends, He began to show me that He longed to be my friend. Mentors weren’t free to walk with me through each setback, but I realized God was. I struggled to pay rent, but He showed me how He could provide in the most unexpected ways. For the first time in a long time, I was simply attending church - not serving in any way. I couldn’t soak up enough of the worship and teachings that God tailored to fit my heart exactly! I began to see this time was special to God- He relished this period of extra closeness and caring for me!Being stripped of all I knew, I went from disoriented to more spiritually healthy, from questioning my worth to knowing it, from feeling lonely to loved. Despite (or perhaps because of) that one year when I shed more tears than in most of my life, I reflect on what was possibly the most restorative, beautiful and influential time in my life.While praying for a friend recently, I began to picture her going backstage after starring in a play and removing her makeup. I felt God was saying that as she enters a new season of life, there are many titles and roles that are falling away. So many things that have been ‘who she is’, won’t be there anymore. Are you being stripped of the familiar? Take heart, this scary rumbling may just be God rebuilding a lasting foundation.
About the Author
Jessica Hendrick
Jessica lives in Chesapeake, VA with her husband, Bryan, and their two young children, Jack & Jane. Never in a million years would she have thought after getting her Masters in Counseling and studying Biofeedback that she would forego job applications and become a stay-at-home mom, but God revealed the true desire of her heart that year.