Ch-ch-ch-ch-changin'

The weather here in Western Washington has officially changed from mildly cold to borderline frigid.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but for the most part I'm not.  It got to be so cold yesterday that I pulled my winter clothes and accessories out of storage.  I'm pretty sure our highs are in the low 50s.

The best part, though, is that the colors are changing.  Green leaves become red, orange, yellow.  I'm sure I've talked about fall here before (or maybe not - I can't be sure and I'm too lazy to check), but I can't help but talk about it again.  I love fall.  I can't explain why it's my favorite season.  I don't have the words for it.

Maybe it's the weather changing from warm to chilly.  I like cold.  I would much rather be cold than hot.  Hot is definitely not for me.  And, to me, fall is when I get to begin feasting on "cold" activities.  Things like snuggling and reading a book while sipping a mug full of pumpkin spice latte all while sitting in an oversized chair by the fire.  I love things like bonfires and smores.  I love the coziness of fall.  It brings people together.  And I love fall festivities.  Hay rides.  Pumpkin patches.  Costumes.  Turkeys.  Warm chocolate chip cookies.  All of it.  It just enraptures me.

I also love the spiritual connections to fall.  Fall is a time of deadness to me.  Leaves change colors and soon fall off their sources, leaving their trees bare and vulnerable.  It's interesting how fast it happens, too.  Summer is usually so warm and lively, and then it's like we just make a sharp u-turn toward cold and dead.  And I realize this makes me sound crazy, that I actually like...deadness.

But it's not so much that I like it (the deadness) - it's that I can relate to it.

I've been there spiritually.  There have been times in my spiritual life that felt utterly dead, where I'm spiritually stripped to nothing and feel vulnerable with little-to-no activity.  Like the Holy Spirit isn't moving.  Don't get me wrong - I've certainly felt the glory of basking in the sun rays of how he's moving in my life.  But it always seems that the autumn of the heart is more vivid.  I always sense when Jesus is there, but what's hard is sensing he's there but feels like he isn't moving.  Does that make sense?  (Kind of like how the pang of loneliness is much more severe [at the time] than the joy of companionship.  What's worse is that the joy of companionship always makes the following times of loneliness even worse because you know what you're missing.)

It's like that in my spiritual autumn.  I have a harder time coping because I know what my spiritual life could  be like, what it has been.  I can remember just how sweet it was to feel the Spirit move in a way that was unmistakable, which makes the pain of - what seems to be inactivity - even more severe.

The beauty is, though, that it's just a season.  And what do seasons eventually do?  Change.

(Sidenote: A great resource for seasons of the soul is a book called "Spiritual Rhythm" by Mark Buchanan.  I will be reviewing it here soon.)

♫ "Summer's Here" ♫

I thought I'd give an update about the goings-on in my life...

I woke up this morning with James Taylor's "Summer's Here" stuck in my head - go ahead, give it a listen (you know you want to...).  Sing along with me:

♫ "Summer's here, I'm for that, 

Got my rubber sandals got my straw hat...

It's my favorite time of the year, and I'm glad that it's here" ♫

You did pretty well!  Haha.  Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway), it was a good morning.  :)

It's a long story, but I'm looking for a job.  So far so good.  I have a few interviews in the next week, and I just got back from a temp agency in hopes of finding something to hold me over for a while.  I'm feeling good about it though.  The Lord has me in high spirits.

I've been recently going through a book called "Lies Women Believe" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and I've really been confronted by some things in my life because of it.  God has taught me so much about what I believe and what the evidence of my beliefs is.  And I've also learned a ton about what it means to be a woman of God and a wife and mom, even though I'm neither of the latter two yet.  There are so many things that I've thought and believed about my own life as a woman that so do not line up with what God's Word says.  I have to say that I haven't agreed with some of the things she said, particularly the chapter about children, but overall it's been a nice journey.  I've been using it as part of my morning devo, and I feel like my whole spirit is refreshed.  It's nice replacing the lies with the Truth and no longer living in bondage because I am free in Christ!

Okay.  I just had to get that out of my system!  I've decided from now on, in this blog, to call my boyfriend "Chewie."  It's not his real name, in case you were wondering.  Just a nickname.  But in reading other blogs I've found that, for legal disclosure policy-ish reasons, it's better not to use his real name but a nickname instead.  So, yeah.

Anyway, Chewie has a big-time interview next week, and we are praying that Jesus gives him that job!  The pay is decent, and he'll have pretty decent benefits, as well.  Plus, don't you think a guy this cheesy deserves a great job???  :D

My small group, that we fondly call "Quarterlifers," is going so so so well.  I love this group.  They have become my best friends, my accountability, somewhere I go for wisdom and encouragement, and so much more.  I am so thankful that Jesus put this group of people in my life.  And I'm so excited about how the Holy Spirit is moving amongst us.  One of the things we are praying for right now is revival in the hearts of those in our group and in our church.  Our church has been through some t.o.u.g.h. stuff in the past 6 months, and I believe we're ready for some major Jesus-movement.

Also, the Quarterlifers have been challenged by the youth group to weekly Sunday morning events, like relay races and basketball games.  If we win, they have to wash our cars.  Holler!  And if they win - Jesus, help us - we have to host a lock-in for them.  Now, I'm not sure if you're familiar with youth lock-ins (and, believe me, you should be grateful for that), but I definitely am familiar with them.  Therefore, I am praying - hard - that we will beat their tushies (sp???)!  All-in-all, though, it should be really fun, and I am really excited.

There are so many good things stirring right now that I can't help but to be dizzy with excitement.  I feel a new adventure coming on with my career, as well as Chewie's, and God is definitely working in and around my life right now.  He is so good.  I just can't say it enough.