Adventure. When I was younger this word began to itch at me. I would imagine it was only related to traveling, exploring the jungle, running away from wild animals, and a big rustic journal. It was just like how the movies depicted it and when I watched them, I would get so inspired. I wanted to live an adventure! I wanted to run away from lions or get stranded in a jungle and become wild only to be rescued. I wanted to travel. I wanted to meet people everywhere and have excitement. I couldn’t wait to grow older because that’s when my adventure would start. Thats when my life would start. Or so I thought.
My mind was pumping with imaginations and dreams. But when I looked up, I only saw reality. Thinking it was insignificant; I missed its beauty. It was here my Father began to teach me. I began to see the beauty of life in the here and now, whatever the situation. I learned about the beauty of seasons and to appreciate the journey as much as the destination. To live an adventure was to look up with gratitude and childlike wonder. It was to appreciate the life you have been given. And now I am entering a new season of life.
I am so excited to start this with you! I am excited because I believe we are in for an adventure. An adventure filled with good times, hard times, the mundane, the exciting, the discovery, the quiet, and everything in-between. No experience is a waste by telling these stories experiences, you will be a part of my journey in discovering life for what it is. My goal and hope are that by reading my content, you will have a different perspective and leave with encouragement.
Someone special to me once told me, “Just be honest and people will relate to you.” I have put my heart into this to do just that. So that when I come and look at it, I will remember where I have come from and where I’m going. In being honest, I want to be a blessing to you as well. After reading my content, I want you to look at your life with fresh excitement and anticipation that you too can live well starting where you are. I want my life to be an encouragement to you.
But what exactly is this journey? The best way for me to answer that question is in a future post. For right now let me just give you some context. As I was about to graduated high school, I would get a lot of questions from different people in my life about this new stage I was entering. At that time, I didn’t know how to answer the questions because I had a crazy dream that I didn’t know how to properly articulate. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to share it with anyone. So I sidestepped or gave as vague an answer as possible. But the dream kept growing and I realized what a blessing it would be to share this next part of my life with others, especially those who might be struggling.
The theme of this blog is hope and what an interesting and wonderful thing it is. It is displayed every day and in different phenomena. For example, when all seems lost in a forest fire, you can find a green plant sprout on its own. Even more, the dead of night is broken by the rising sun, marking the start of a new day. Yet if you were to ask me right now to define hope, I would stammer a little and try to say something wise and impersonal. I am waking up to understand that it’s something more than a word. It’s something that you can have when you go through both suffering and good times. It’s a mystery to me and my prayer is that even when I don’t understand it, it would be cultivated here.
Before we get started, I want to create some understanding between us. As I was thinking about what to write, I wanted to keep it as neutral as possible so that I would be relatable to everyone. I wasn’t sure I would write about my faith or spiritual experiences because it is intimate, and I didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. Again, this was rooted in fear. I have discovered it is not possible for me to be honest about my life and not mention the One who created it. As you join me on this journey, I hope you do so with the understanding that my life is not my own, it belongs to God. More than that, I hope you can see that I am in communion with Him, and it is out of that communion I am living this abundant life. Don’t worry, I’ll show you what I mean in the next several posts by sharing a little bit of my story. Let’s just say we have a lot to catch up on. And after that, my goal is to blog once a month. So, by the end of each month, you should hear from me. Like I said, this is a special season for me. I also want to focus on living it.
So, the big question: will you join me? To be honest, I am not sure where this is going to go and what we will experience but I will say this, “Adventure is out there.” I’ll let you guess what movie that’s from. Welcome friend!