learning to flourish

a guest post by heather

Hello! My name's Heather and I blog over at Tickled Yellow. I'm so honored that Annie is letting me share a bit of my story here today. I'm a newlywed and a youth pastor's wife, and I like to write about the many misadventures that come with that (trust me, there are many.)

Do you ever feel like most of your life is spent waiting on something?

The other day I was skimming through old journal entries, filled with teenage woe, and couldn't help but notice a pattern. I was always waiting. Waiting to go to college. To have a boyfriend. To get married.

And now, after all of those things finally happened, I find myself in that same mindset. This time I'm waiting to move. An hour away, across the country, a different continent; I really don't care. I'm just ready to make that next step.

There was a point, not so many months ago, where I was desperate to change my situation. I was so sick of waiting I started to drive myself crazy wondering when, if, how it would happen. I thought I'd just get by until then. I thought I could put things on hold until real life began. I'll decorate our house when we move. I'll start serving and volunteering when we move. I'll learn how to cook. That's when things will start to happen, when we move.

And then God stopped me in my tracks, as He tends to do.

He showed me that there is so much peace and joy to be found in the present, so many little glimpses of His goodness that I was missing out on each day. It was like I was rejecting God's gift of the present by wishing it away. I finally realized that I could accomplish nothing by worrying. I finally turned to God and said, "Okay, I give up. I'm going to do it your way now."

So while I'm waiting and dreaming of a new space, I'm decorating my house, however ghetto it may be. I'm burning dinner after dinner in attempts to learn how to cook. I'm stepping outside of my introverted little comfort zone and reaching out to younger girls who need my encouragement.

I'm learning to flourish in this season that could have stolen my joy.

If you are in an in-between season or waiting for the next step, remember that it won't last forever (at least that's what I keep telling myself.) Live fully in this moment and make a conscious choice to be fully present. Life often seems to be a process of trying to get ourselves from point A to point B, but it's so much more than that. It's about seeing God in the in-between, the parts we'd often like to skip over.

Have your neighbors over for coffee even if you'll be moving in a month. Make friends with the girls down the hall in your dorm when you're bogged down with exams. If you're single, take advantage of the fact that you don't have to worry about your bra matching your underwear!

Try new things, keep your mind occupied. Stretch yourself and watch what God does through you. You may never know why God has you in this particular season. Squeeze out every opportunity to learn and grow from it. I promise you won't regret it.

Heather is a wife, writer, and ginger who is also a Kate Middleton junkie. She is a lover of all things yellow and lemon-related and covered by God's grace. She blogs at Tickled Yellow & tweets here.