A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

On Wednesday, I put one of my closest friends on a plane and sent her back to Germany. We got to the airport early, so we procrastinated on the goodbye of course, and we sat together reminiscing and talking about the last couple of months which had been the most tumultuous in our friendship yet. It turns out that if you put two people together, any people, going through culture shock at the same time, 24/7, you get some serious tension. We had never really fought before, but we sure made up for lost time these past few months as we tiptoed around each other and everything changed. I can’t explain how it happened, but after only the first couple weeks, I got so sick and tired of the tension that while she was lying on her bed I just crawled in next to her and said I’m sorry, that I didn’t know why things were so weird between us now, and she was relieved that I’d said something. We laid next to each other, wondering out loud what was going on. We shed tears of frustration, not just at each other, but at what was going on. We didn’t understand it nor did we know what to do. Even with the conversation acknowledging how hard it was, it didn’t get any easier. But even with both of our sinfulness, in the end, this friend was gracious enough to ask me out to breakfast to tell me that she still loved me. That despite the hard times, she was choosing instead to remember the great times, and assured me that even after this speedbump, however huge it felt, we were going to be okay. I cried over my pancakes, knowing I didn’t deserve it.

A good friend of mine likes to ask her friends a peculiar question when she wants to know how they’re really doing: “When was the last time you cried?” If the person couldn’t remember, or it had been a long time since their last cry, she knew she had reason to be concerned about them.

There really is no way to explain in words what it feels like to walk away from someone who is walking into the security line in the airport. To leave them there, knowing the next time you see each other will not be soon, and they may even have children and a husband next time, or maybe you won’t see them again at all. The same applies to getting on a plane. Goodbyes have been so much a part of my life in the last few years but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel acutely the pain of each and every one of them as if it were the first goodbye I’ve ever said. You never get used to it. When I left her at the airport and walked back to my car, I knew it was okay to cry because that’s what people do at the departures terminal of the airport. No one will think I’m weird. But unfortunately I couldn’t stop. I got into my car and BURST into tears. And I mean tears. Sobs, actually. Heart-wrenching ones that I immediately realized I had held in for the last 3 months because they came from deep inside and nothing could stop them. If you’ve ever seen that episode of Grey’s Anatomy when Christina, the “strong, emotionless” character, loses her baby and shows no emotion for days until something happens and suddenly the dam bursts and she can’t stop crying, she’s hyperventilating and yelling “make it stop!” in between sobs…well, that was me, in the airport parking lot. In these last few months I’ve lost my “baby.” My whole world. All my friends. My job. My everyday life routine. My surroundings. My expectations. Even my expectations of myself. Friendships that once were so good were damaged because I was more selfish than I thought. I even lost Jesus in all of that. And I didn’t let myself feel the intense loss until then. I pretended to be strong. I love my new life. Transition was going to be easy, I thought. I’ve got this. I don’t need help. I don’t even need God’s help.

I suddenly noticed a security camera and didn’t want people coming after me thinking I was losing my mind, even though I kind of was, so I got things somewhat together, put my sunglasses on, and drove away.

It felt good to let it all out, but more than that, ever since that day, I have been having encounters with Jesus that I can’t explain. In some deep and mysterious way, I let him in that day in the parking garage more than I have in a long time. I yelled at him in the car. As long as we’re getting personal, I might as well tell you that I told him, out loud, in between sobs, it wasn’t “make it stop,” but instead, “I can’t do this, I can’t do this again, please, don’t make me do this”. The fear was overwhelming. I felt so scared in that moment. C.S. Lewis once said that grief feels so much like fear. Yeah, I chickened out about life. Me, the “strong one,” “laid-back Laura,” and all I could think of was how much I was losing.

I have lost so much in pursuit of what He wanted me to do, yet…somehow… he is becoming more than enough. That moment in the car was my garden of Gethsemane. That realization, knowing that Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, understanding what’s happening to me, gives me strength to endure, to grieve, to trust him with the place in my heart that hurts, admitting that I am not okay, that some days I am, but some days I’m just sad and confused and lonely and it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under me. But the gospel has captured me again suddenly. I’ve had this picture in my mind of him all week of him carrying his cross, stopping suddenly to look at me in the crowd of mockers, with eyes looking deep into my heart knowing my brokenness, yet looking at me with more love than I’ve ever felt, and even turning to continue the walk of the will of God for me. I can’t get that picture out of my head and it is driving grace and love and peace into me every day. Is this what it means to suffer with Christ? Is this what it means to build your house on Christ the solid rock and not on everything I’ve lost?

Grief has surrounded the community I’m in right now, and death has come to this area many times. I feel sick of it. Sick of death, loss, sin, pain, brokenness. I’ve been reading the Psalms this week, perfect pictures of joy and pain, hope and sorrow, begging God to show up in the midst of everything that is up and down right now. I don’t understand it, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I do know that He is with me and He has proven that He loves me. I don’t know how to fully trust Him right now in all of it but I am trying. I think that’s what we are all trying to do.

Ellie Holcomb wrote this song based on several Psalms, for a depressed friend. And for me. May He be near and real in all of our pain.

I don’t want to face this valley
I don’t want to walk alone
You say that you’ll leave to find me
Well I am begging you now to come

Don’t think I can face the morning
The heaviness is on my chest
You say that you’ll lift this burden
Well I am begging you to bring me rest

Chorus:
So come and find me
In the darkest night of my soul
In the shadow of the valley
I am dying for you to make me whole
For you to make me whole

I can’t keep myself from sinkin’
From drowning down in all this shame
My throat is worn out from calling for help
And I am praying you’ll remember my name

I know I can’t fight this battle
Been surrounded on every side
You say that you will deliver me
Well I am praying that you’ll restore my life

Chorus

Answer me out of the goodness of your love
In your mercy turn to me
I know it’s you that I’ve been running from
But I’m seeing it’s you I need, need
You’re all I need

“‘In the same way I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born,’ says the Lord.”
-Isaiah 66:9

guilt v. remorse and other real talk

I can’t sleep, but I refuse to believe it’s because of the coffee I consumed after 6pm. I’m not that old, right?

Instead it’s probably because something is rattling around in my soul and needs to come out.

Recently God has been convicting me to be a little bit more vulnerable. I wouldn’t say I’m a closed off person, but I’m not exactly an open book either, especially after having so many people go in and out of my life while I was in Germany. It just gets exhausting opening yourself up after awhile. (You military families can relate.) While I was at Southwind Wyldlife camp a couple weeks ago, I started feeling sorry for myself as I was surrounded by so many people yet I felt lonely, and God kept pestering me to be more open so that He could become an even bigger Savior, and I could have some actual real friends who knew me. I ignored Him, naturally, but unfortunately He got me again- I just read Henri Nouwen’s words in In the Name of Jesus about how Christian leadership is not about pretending to have it all together (if we are honest, NONE of us fit in that category so really all of us are just pretending) but about showing others how Jesus is walking with you in the midst of your brokenness.

Something I tend to fall into a lot- the biggest “thorn in my side” that I carry- the lie that I am constantly tempted to believe- is that I’m not good enough. I could go into all manner of reasons why, but I’ve already done that in counseling and you don’t need to hear the gory details. The point is that guilt eats at me like you wouldn’t believe, it even caused me to spiral into a deep depression in college, where Jesus thankfully and mercifully met me, but even now I forget. Even now I am constantly in a battle in my mind where I have to preach the gospel to myself every day, otherwise I fall into the trap again, into an endless cycle of guilt and shame, and it takes a long time for Jesus to dig me out of it, and usually some relationships are ruined in the process and habitual sins creep back in.

Recently since being back from Germany I’ve been in a couple of situations where I just messed up. I was tested, and I messed up big time, and I hurt some people. I could easily blame it on readjusting, or being tired, or sick, or whatever…I was truly so busy when I arrived that I wasn’t listening to God, practicing solitude, or paying attention to how I was doing, or treating others. But in all honesty (we’re being vulnerable here) I know it’s really the sin deep inside me, just revealed now on the surface because of all the stress I’ve been under. I’ve been selfish and unloving and distant and a complete jerkwad, basically, because I wanted to. Because I wanted what I wanted and was willing to run over people to get it. I was on the throne. Serve me. Love me. Give this to me. This is what I am expecting. Blah blah blah.

As I was getting real with some people in my prayer group tonight at church, one of them put it like this: I was “clotheslined” by my own self-centeredness. You know that opening scene in the movie Ghost Ship where this line snaps and cuts all the people dancing on board in half instantly (you’re welcome for that mental image)? That’s what I feel like happened to me. Here is where the battle gets bloody…right in between guilt and remorse.

When I screw up, because of that inner struggle with not feeling good enough, if I don’t immediately give it to Jesus, I tend to beat myself up big time. I call myself all sorts of names, and I get really down on myself. If I’m not careful, depression rears its ugly head again and I become even more distant from people. Guilt is good only if it leads to true remorse.

I’ve been doing a little reading, and a lot of praying, and a lot of listening to God in the quiet in the last few days (finally) and realized there is actually a huge difference between guilt and remorse. Huh. If you’re feeling guilty, you’re essentially just feeling bad because you were bad. “I should’ve _______ but I ________, I’m such a bad person.” But if you feel remorse, you are more focused on how your actions hurt the other person. Guilt brings about zero change. Guilt is selfish. It’s me-focused. All about how I feel, I-I-I-I. It’s surfacy and behavior-focused. Remorse is focused on the other person and never wanting to hurt them again. It’s about changing. It’s about letting Jesus change your HEART, not just your behavior. Where you become a servant, because you are no longer looking for identity and affirmation in another person, you are free to love. You forgive yourself, because Jesus died for your forgiveness. That’s remorse.

They say that returning missionaries struggle with wanting others to serve them. They want to be noticed, appreciated, listened to, but usually the opposite of what they’re expecting happens, and so they get angry. You attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who did not come to be served but to serve. EVEN WHEN YOU’RE COMING BACK FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY. People aren’t going to call you to hang out, you have to call them. People are going to forget you live here, you need to forgive them and get over it. It’s not about you, it’s about serving others and it always is, but you can’t do that without a focus on Christ and by being filled with His love first. My focus has definitely veered off of Jesus and onto myself, onto my desire for affirmation from others to tell me I’m good enough. In the topsy-turvy transition and exhaustion and grief of the last several months, I’ve forgotten the cross, I’ve forgotten the work is already done for me, I’ve forgotten the freedom that comes with knowing that Jesus has covered for me and it’s finished. Period. I’ve forgotten that it’s not all about me, that the world does not exist for my benefit, and I’ve forgotten that it’s okay to not be okay. I often thank God for my experience of depression in college because if I hadn’t gotten real with God, we wouldn’t have had a real relationship. So I’m getting real, with Him and with the people that matter the most to me, remembering that, as another good friend reminded me in a recent “getting real” conversation, the two most important things when it comes down to it are really Love and Truth.

every new beginning starts with some other beginning’s end

I’ve been trying to explain my feelings as of late to people in this way: It’s like I have one foot in America and one foot still in Germany. I’m trying to figure out how to live in the present. How to say goodbye well and make the most of my time here while also looking forward to the next adventure God has for me. Here’s some things that have been happening lately that are “the end” and demanding my attention here, and some things that are “the beginning” and exciting and making it very clear that God is preparing the way for another new beginning in the states:

The end:
-Today I went to T-Mobile to set my cell phone to be shut off January 15th
-Today was Bamberg Middle High School’s final football game EVER 😦
-The other day I packed several boxes to start mailing to the states
-My car has been sold for over a month now
-It is now officially cold. Summer and fall are gone, only one season left to experience for the last time. My iPhone says it is 37 degrees F at the time of writing this (in the middle of the night).
-I am planning my last trips to see other countries.
-I am getting ready to train my local hire to take over for the last few months
-Bamberg is closing fast and businesses are consolidating and it is sad and weird.
-My last Staff Conference is coming up in a couple of weeks where I will be goodbyed- looking forward to quality time with friends but not the emotional goodbye where everyone says nice things to you while you sit with everyone looking at you. Awkward!

The beginning:
-While we were packing my stuff, my best friend wrote an encouraging sticky note and put it on every single thing she bubble wrapped so that I would “not be so sad when unpacking” ❤ Also, she bought her ticket to the states for 2 months in February. What an awesome thing to look forward to- introducing my German best friend to the US for the first time!
-A donor recently gave $5,000 (yes you read that right) to help with my moving expenses!
-Skyping with a wonderful mentor in my life who does admin for YL Chattanooga and she suddenly exclaimed “Oh my gosh I didn’t realize you’d be coming to weekly Young Life staff meetings! Let’s have lunch every Tuesday after them at a different place in Chattanooga!” and both of us teared up at the thought of how good our God is!
-A friend I knew in Chattanooga and wished I’d had more time to get to know is moving back there soon and is going to try to look for a house we can be roommates in.
-I’ve had so many people stateside tell me how excited they are that I’ll be closer, including club kids and families from Bamberg.
-Witnessing God healing friends and friendships in the states recently.

I’m in a strange place in life, praying for contentment and motivation and trying to live in the moment and not in fear. Perfect love drives out fear- so for now I’m trying to stay close to the One who is with me through all of this and understands. I find myself spending a lot more time in solitude and prayer. Not a bad thing at all, and I think it’s what will carry me through this transition, as well as your prayers and encouragement! Thanks to you all for that, by the way. I am blessed.

BIG NEWS!

Over the past year or so, I’ve been inviting you all to pray about what’s next for me after Bamberg’s post closes Summer 2014. Thank you so much for your prayers. The Lord has been faithful to lead me into an exciting new assignment! I can only begin to tell you all that has happened over the last several months to lead me to one big announcement: the Chattanooga Young Life area director wants me back to go on part-time (at first) staff with Northwest Georgia Young Life!

I’ve been praying for the past year or so about this possibility as soon as I found out my old area director had left and the area was struggling. In fact, one of my old Young Life girls recently told me, “Young Life has really died down around here, it’s kind of sad.” This breaks my heart! Rural Young Life is an often-forgotten, struggling, and yet incredibly needed area of ministry. I speak about this need both from my experience growing up in a small town as well as my experience as a volunteer there for 3 years and seeing the struggles that these kids talked about in our cabin times at camp. You would be shocked at the level of need students have for spiritual mentors even in the “Bible Belt.” During my stateside visit in January, I met with the Chattanooga area director and a volunteer working to keep NWGA Young Life going. We all loved the idea of me coming to help, especially as a Covenant College alumnus, and we started praying that God would work out the details and lead me in discernment. Since then, many friends and family have confirmed this as a great fit for me, and God has brought all the pieces together to make it possible, including the timing of the base closure, the gifts He’s given me, and the connections He’s kept strong even with me being overseas. I never thought I’d be able to go back to the place where I fell in love with Young Life and back to my college to tell people about the difference being a Young Life leader can make in the lives of kids as well as the leaders themselves. God writes amazing stories.

I am so excited about what’s next but I’m also going to miss living in Germany and my family at Club Beyond. Thank you so much for your support and for being part of my life these past 3 years. God has taught me more than I ever thought possible and grown me as a youth minister. He has worked in the lives of military kids and has clearly used this time in Bamberg to prepare me for what’s next.

I invite you to pray for me as I finish out my last semester of military ministry and prepare to leave Bamberg and head to the Chattanooga/Northwest Georgia area in early January 2014. I will likely be spending a month or two fundraising soon after I arrive. Please be praying for God to raise up more financial support. I will rely more than ever on donations in order to keep doing ministry, as I will no longer have the benefit of a military stipend, and Northwest Georgia YL does not have the funds to support me more than part-time yet (which is one of the reasons why they need someone like me- as I am able to bring my own support along). If you can no longer give, please know that I am BEYOND grateful for what you have already given, and will completely understand. Please let me know if you cannot continue. If you would like to give either monthly or one-time gifts to support me for the rest of my time in Bamberg and for this next ministry,  check out the Ministry Support page at the top. I look forward to keeping all of you updated on this next adventure! Let me know by e-mail or Facebook message how I can be praying for YOU!