100 Posts - 100 Lessons

Welcome to blog post #100!

Because 100 is a fun number and I've been blogging for a year and a half, I figured this would be a great place to share what I've learned since I began this blog. Why not, right? 

So 100 lessons based on 100 blog posts. Let's begin!

1. I love Young Life, but I can survive without it and even without doing ministry in-person with those awesome leader friends.
2. Being salt in this world means you actually are different.
3. God is redeeming me. He's been redeeming me for a long time.
4. I started writing "prayer letters" last June. God did cool things in calling me to Ghana.
5. God is capable of providing for me even when my needs seem impossible to meet.
6. God is gracious in letting me write ministry updates.
7. The Word can change our lives. It's worth spending time in. It can comfort us.
8. God healed me from my fear of alcohol.
9. Community is messy but necessary and refreshing.
10. Jesus is everything.
11. God did cool things in my first few weeks in Ghana.
12. My home in Ghana was wonderful. 
13. ALL THAT I AM is meant to praise the LORD.
14. Rain teaches me about God.
15. God did cool things in September in Ghana. Prayer letters are helpful to remember the stuff he does.
16. I had to fight for joy in Ghana. I learned a lot about joy through it.
17. Community matters. It brings glory to God.
18. God sent my team to the nations last year through our relationships with our neighbors.
19. God did cool things in October in Ghana.
20. Hymns can teach you important things.
21. Accra is a little glimpse of America in Ghana. It can even give you a taste of culture shock.
22. God did cool things in November in Ghana.
23. Being involved in a broken church is better than being involved in no church.
24. My heart chases after things other than Jesus.
25. I am broken, but God is building me back. 
26. One year of singleness can teach you important things.
27. God is helping me develop big Kingdom dreams.
28. God did cool things in December in Ghana. And "afehyia pa" means both "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year" in Twi.
29. God works through a broken community.
30. Rain gives me life and teaches me about God.
31. My home is in Jesus, not in a physical place.
32. God did awesome things in Ghana in January even though it was hard.
33. God called me to be a part of finishing his mission even though I was scared and cried about it. I cried a lot.
34. I don't deserve the privileges I used to think I deserved. I'm given so much more than those privileges though.
35. Isaiah 43 is full of good truths.
36. God did awesome things in Kumasi in February too. Every month had its blessings. 
37. Confession is necessary and brings great healing. I'm blessed with good friends who make confession less difficult than it used to be.
38. Jesus gives us a beautiful, fresh identity in him.
39. I can see similarities between Ghana and my little brothers.
40. Jesus never ceases to surprise me.
41. Sometimes God calls us to give up our dreams and follow him in order to bring more glory to himself. 
42. God redeems the harm in our pasts to bring glory to his name. He's redeeming my past, but it still stings a little.
43. God met me in a hard place in life, and he changed me.
44. The past still affects the present, but God is redeeming and healing me and my family.
45. March was full of God's goodness in Ghana.
46. God wants us to love him more than he wants us to serve him.
47. We can't live in fear of being judged. We have to take risks and choose to make beautiful things.
48. God's primary concern is his glory. It should be our primary concern too.
49. God invited me to join him on the Expedition Team this year. It was hard to say yes, but my acceptance e-mail still brought me great joy.
50. Christians are called to respond to beggars the way Jesus responded to beggars and to us.
51. I am adequate because of Christ not because of me.
52. God did awesome things in Ghana in April too. He's good like that.
53. Sometimes, God allows hard things to happen so that people can see more of his glory.
54. Ghana was a year-long mountain climb. And it only took climbing a mountain for me to fully understand how true that is.
55. Cape Coast is a sweet home of mine. I miss it. I forgot how much of a home it really is. God reminded me.
56. Some nights I'm too afraid to go to sleep. God gets it. He's with me in the silence and the fear of nightmares.
57. You can't live to please people. But you can live to love Jesus and change the world.
58. Goodbyes are painful, but they remind us of eternity.
59. God did awesome things in Ghana in May. It was hard to leave those awesome things behind.
60. Apathy is never a real option.
61. I'll never be fully "home" again. But there are things to rejoice in as I experience different homes.
62. If we have hope, we should share our source of hope with others. How can we not?
63. Friends can help refine you. You just have to be real with them.
64. Sometimes God asks us to wait and trust him even though we really want to "fix" things with another person.
65. Following my heart won't make me happy. That's why I don't do it.
66. No matter how I feel, I belong to Jesus.
67. June was a hard month, but God was still doing awesome things in Ghana and in my heart.
68. America needs freedom.
69. God taught me how to summarize my time in Ghana.
70. Caribou Coffee has a special place in my heart because of a sweet friend.
71. The grass is never greener on the other side. I want to learn how to enjoy my grass here and now.
72. God is faithful and provides even when I am unfaithful.
73. I am perfect in Christ. It's not a result of what I do. It's about what he did.
74. God was gracious in redeeming me. God was gracious in redeeming my friends too.
75. I want the words I speak and write to give life to others.
76. July was a difficult month, but God taught me more about ministry and blessed me in it.
77. My name defines me in ways that I never thought it could.
78. I don't call myself a missionary because we're all on a mission. We're all sent. If you start calling yourself a missionary, I'll start calling myself one too.
79. God is teaching me to name the little blessings in life. 
80. To be loved by Jesus is greater than anything else.
81. God did amazing things in preparing me and my team for the Expedition.
82. Jesus is worth the pain of transition.
83. Packing for one year is difficult, but I can do it.
84. I can't do the whole Expedition thing. But Jesus can.
85. God's restoring my vineyards. He took me out of the desert and brought me home back to him.
86. When I'm cranky, I need to list the things I'm thankful for. It helps.
87. I am not meant to be fully self-sufficient. I need community.
88. God has impeccable timing.
89. I believe too many lies. 
90. Prayer walks are beautiful. Fall is beautiful.
91. Our experience in Rivne, Ukraine was a blessing.
92. Building monuments to God as a reminder of what he accomplished is a great idea. And community done right shows so much grace and love.
93. God did cool things in our first stop in Rivne, Ukraine.
94. When I get jealous of the lives other people can live, I just need to count up the cost. It reminds me that Jesus is worth living this nomadic life overseas.
95. I make strange, compulsive decisions.
96. National Novel Writing Month is a great idea. God definitely led me into it this year.
97. I care about orphans, and I want to be a better advocate for adoption. Writing helped me realize that.
98. Sometimes, things we love become chores. We need to keep doing them anyway. It's worth it in the end, and our love for such things will return eventually.
99. God gave me the grace and time to survive National Novel Writing Month, and he gave me a lot of joy while doing it.
100. God has given me great adventures so that I can experience more of his grace. We have a good, good God!

I don't know what the next 100 blog posts will include, but I do know that God will continue to teach me more about him and his truth. 

What lessons has God been teaching you?