An interesting “aging challenge” has popped up all over Facebook
recently.
The “challenge” is to post your very first Facebook profile
picture and your most recent selfie to see how you’ve changed over the years.
Of course – there’s always ‘those people’ who remind the rest of
us that in the last 10-15 years technology has come a long way. So while we may
be deluded into thinking that we’re not aging we’re really just reaping the
benefits of advanced technology.
I still thought it would be fun to see the difference.
So – Here I am. 2006 to 2018.
I will say – I don’t think I’ve aged terribly. It seems
that I’ve learned how to wear makeup and groom my eyebrows – but it’s what you
can’t see that is really astounding.
That girl on the left doesn’t know that there is so much more.
More life, more to experience, more to fall in love with. She has no idea what
her eyes will see, or where her feet will walk, or how much love can fit in her
heart.
She has no idea who she is, or how her day to day life fits into
God’s bigger picture for her.
She can’t see the perseverance that is being
fashioned, the groundwork for her children’s faith that she and her husband are
laying, or how the ability to be content is being grown.
She can’t see how “just being a stay at home mom” is even
remotely effective in the grand scheme of the universe.
She sees no end in sight when it comes to her degree. She
doesn’t think that they will ever be financially “ok.”
She is overwhelmed with having littles. She has no idea that
everyone who ever told her that “they grow up too fast” was SO.RIGHT.
She doesn’t fully realize that God has a perfect plan. She is
desperate for community, although she wouldn’t be able to recognize that
desire.
She has no idea that in a few short years her life will
drastically change.
She will sell everything she owns and embark on an adventure of
the best kind. She will learn, and grow, and see God move in a way she never
really thought possible. She will have her heart and her dreams crushed with a
single sentence.
She will wrestle with God. She will watch her husband become a
shell of the man he was.
She will pray, and cry, and pray some more.
She will remind herself over and over again that God’s call on
her life doesn’t come with an expiration date.
She will move half way across the country just to find her
“tribe.” Although she doesn’t know that’s why.
They will love her, and encourage her, and continue to pour into
her even when she is a brat.
They will pet her hair and tell her she’s pretty when life is
just too much and pain is just too real.
They will remind her that she loves Jesus when it seems that she
has forgotten.
They will turn her eyes to the cross and to the one who holds
everything in the palm of his hand.
They will council her.
They will laugh with her.
They will cry with her.
They will stitch together all the things that have been ripped
apart. They will shine a light into the dark places and declare that the enemy
has no holds on her anymore.
They will help her heal – and she won’t even realize it’s
happening.
They will help shape the woman on the right out of the broken
pieces.
