Dreaming

I got to have a three day weekend and spend a wonderful day with my dear friends, Caley and Andy, at their home in Richmond while our dear friend, Rose, was in town from Brussels for a few days. I mainly spent time with Caley and Rose since Andy was at work, and I loved every minute of it. It's funny to me, that in the 28 and half years of my life I have only know Caley coming up on 5 years and Rose coming up on 4. But the depth of our friendships are so rich for such a short period of time, and that in those years, we have not always lived in WDC. But God is so good to have allowed me to dream with these two women on so many Sunday mornings at Murky Coffee, Peregrine and now wherever the Lord allows us to spend time together.

But while I am ever grateful for those two incredible friends, it is Mrs. Angela Wallace, who today has given such an encouragement, even though the five little lines that mean so much to me were written almost six years ago.

In Angela's wedding program, she picked a verse for each us, an exhortation And then just a little sentence. The verse she chose for me was Philemon 1:7, "Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the heart of saints." And she went on to say that my "joyful and adventurous spirit always made [her] yearn deeper for the Lord, [she] loved to dream with me."

I keep a box filled with letters and notes, and anything else that I have received encouragement from, so that when a bad day hits, I can read these notes and remember that not only am I loved by good Father, I am loved by an incredible community, both near and far, related and not related.

Today was, by no means, a bad day. But as I walked around Home Depot for the first time in weeks, I was dreaming, as I have done so often since buying a house. And I was thinking about my house, my neighborhood, my incredible neighbors, my job, and coworkers, the new friends that I have made this last year, and the beauty of the Lord that has been revealed to me in the art of his movement over the past two and half years; the verse that Angela chose popped to my mind.

I long to be a person and my home a place of deep refreshment, for saints and sinners alike.

Thank you Ang, for seeing something in me, that I couldn't name and didn't know, and needed the grace of the following years to learn and grow in that. I have so far to still go in that. I get in the way of it in so many instances. I refuse to draw from the well and instead rely on myself to give that refreshment; and joy and encouragement that comes from solely me ain't going to get anybody anywhere. But, as much as it was an exhortation then, it is one now.

I'm looking forward to a day, that I hope is soon, to sit on a porch and dream with this dear sister of mine. Our lives look so different than the days in college where we got to talk and dream, but every time I speak to Angela, she refreshes my heart, because she points me to the only one who sustains. I love you dear friend.