I love people. And to some degree I think I always have. But, because Christ loved me I get to love people even more. The love of God has the power to change every part of a human being, especially the human heart. I have always loved taking care of others, I guess it's just the natural instinct within me but because of the awesomeness of the Holy Spirit that feeling gets amplified by about a million. I truly believe that intentional relationships are the result of God's overflowing love within us. God has gifted me many blessings within my short lifetime and quite a few of these have come in the form of intentional relationships.
Beginning senior year I found myself in an awkward place. Somewhere between the start of junior year and the August before senior year I looked up and realized I didn't necessarily enjoy the majority of people that filled my life. Not to say that some of them didn't bring me great joy, because I promise they did, but I craved something different, something deep, something with intention. Inside my heart there was a desire to love others with every ounce of Christ's overflowing love, but there were very few people in my life I got to share it with. Then God pointed me in the direction of acting intentionally toward those around me. And man oh man did He bless me! For approximately the last week I served as a junior counselor at Oklahoma Girls State. Basically this means I get to spend every second of my days with some of the most amazing twenty-seven women I have ever met. I enjoyed Girls State more than anything because of the relationships I got to build with these lovely ladies which came as a product of intention. But while I spent my week in Norman a huge part of my heart was left in Stillwater where another one of God's products of intentionally stayed.
For some crazy reason God thought that as a senior in high school I should really get to know younger girls, specifically two sophomores that somehow ended up stealing every piece of my heart. Sometime between August and May, Kenley and Mac ended up being two of the most important people in my life. Yesterday was the first time I saw them for a whole entire week and I could not have been more excited to see them. Being someone who's love language is quality time, I can't really explain how great a feeling it was to sit and talk that night for a solid 30 minutes!
I have established in all the wisdom that fills my seventeen year old body, that God brings people into our lives for a reason. Every one of the people I have met in my life serve a purpose in God's incredible plan for me. So why not share Him with every one of them? One part of graduating high school I didn't really think about was all the gifts you get from people, and nine times out of ten, gifts come with cards. Now, my first love language may be quality time by my secondary is words of affirmation, and there is no cooler way to see all the things God has used a person for than what people write about you in a graduation card. Just like I have talked about before I really struggle with letting people in, but this year I REALLY tried to change that. And after reading the things people wrote to me I think I did a pretty decent job. Once I learned to love people intentionally, I got to see God work through me in awesome and unbelievable ways.
When we learn to love people with intention God opens incredible doors. So whether that means you get to meet someone's mom as their "favorite person in the world" or you end up taking personality test at two in the morning, God will use you in ways you could never imagine. So tonight I pray that you get to experience this intentional kind of love. I hope you let God open these doors for you.
Filled with love, joy and coffee,
Kaitlyn
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