Men

One thing I've come to realize is that in the year and a half I have been at Simpson, I have not really found a close male friend. I live in an all girls dorm, my major (music) is mostly female, my life group was a women's group, and working with the Stirring Kids is pretty much all female. Don't get me wrong, I love all these women I've meet and they have been a huge impact on my life, but there is something definitely missing. I need men in my life. Most of my guy friends from home I haven't been very close with since I moved away, so I feel stuck almost. I need to find an outlet where I can remember what it's like to interact with guys again. No, this is not a ploy to find a boyfriend, it's simply a need to have my brothers in Christ around me to support me. I am seriously thinking about joining a mixed life group at the Stirring. I would appreciate prayer about this. Thanks.

Shower Heads Suck

Last night, I got back to Simpson. After getting up at 5am, sitting in airports, flying, and riding in a car all day, all I wanted to do was take a shower and crawl into bed. So I got in the shower, and was once again irked by it. The shower heads are too freaking low. At home, my dad built our house, and since my family is tall, he put the shower heads up high. Common sense, right? And then, I go to Simpson, and learn how the rest of the world is. I seriously feel like I'm trying to do the limbo when I wash my hair. What's up with that? I'm really not even all that tall! 5'9". That's it. Tall for a girl, yes, but I feel sorry out there for all you guys out there 6' and up and have to go through this. We need taller people installing shower heads!

My Word

I've been reading a lot during winter break. It's weird when you days go from being so filled with stuff to do, and then having absolutely no commitments, you're life just drags on and on. There are two of these books I want to mention, which ultimately led to a goal (not a resolution, I hate those) for the year.

I am in the process of reading Eat Pray Love, and in this book, the author goes on a journey of self discovery through Italy, India, and Indonesia. When she was in Italy, she'd having a conversation with a friend she made, and he asked her "What is your word?" So throughout the book, that's one thing she tries to discover. What is the one word that can sum up her life.

Through this idea, I decided that I am going to choose one word to be the focus of my year. Something for me to better understand and live throughout my life. I've been thinking about this for a couple days, which brings me to another book I read.

Captivating is the feminine version of Wild At Heart. It helps women through all of the pain of what it is to be a women in the word, and it shows them how God is encouraging them to be women, not someone who can keep up in a man's world. Now that doesn't mean that a woman is meant to get married, have kids, and do all the housework; far from it. That just means that we were made different from men for a reason, and there are certain attributes that we need to have as the emotional, relational, and beautiful part of God's character. There is one word that really stood out to me in this book, and it has become my word. Vulnerability.

So that's my word. It was confirmed to me this morning that vulnerability is my word, because I wanted to be in Redding today, but plans changed and I couldn't make it. So I'm leaving tomorrow, and I went to my home church this morning. My friend Becca preached this morning about Gomer, the prositute that Hosea married. That God took this sinful and shameful woman, and made her go through so much shame, only to show her how desperate he is for her love. Read Hosea chapters 1 and 2 to get a feel for the story. It really is amazing. God wants us to have the courage to go deeper in our relationship with Him, and with others. To open up and give others the chance to hurt us, but trust them not to. That is my goal for the year. To truely find out what it is to be vulnerable, and live it out.