1) friends are amazing and absolutely essential to being houseless.
you know, that saying, "home is where the heart is," has become so much clearer to me. even though I don't have a place to call my own right now, when I'm with my friends I can feel at home because home is safe and welcome and refreshing.
Saturday I spent the whole day with some of my girlfriends, we went to a ballet class, the silly goose, baked cookies, made dinner, and sat around the dining room table talking about what had been most prominent in our thoughts lately and encouraging each other.
tonight some of my friends and I celebrated our friend chad, it wasn't his birthday or anything, we just wanted to honor him for being generally awesome & generous. it was so much fun. we played lots of apples to apples, gave gifts, and went around the table sharing what our favorite things were about each other and ourselves while eating breakfast for dinner.
2) "Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world... the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]--these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself]." (1 John 2:15, 16 AMP)
today at church my pastor was talking about things the Lord wants to uproot in us and one of those things was, "the boastful pride of life." it's more simply defined as believing, "to get anything done, you're gonna have to do it yourself."
I realized that through this time of houselessness my default mindset has been that if I don't desperately search for a job or places to stay then I'm not going to be taken care of.
it's not that I don't believe God's helping me, it's just that I'm not fully trusting his character to provide the very best for me, which isn't cool, and then when he does I don't feel deserving of it because I didn't earn it.
it's acting like I'm an orphan really, instead of a daughter of the King of Kings.
I may have been provided a home to stay in for awhile through the simple kindness of friends & strangers, I haven't done anything to deserve it or to make it happen.
it's cool that being houseless is teaching me more about Father Gods heart.
3) having places outside of a home that are peaceful is really important when you're houseless, wether its a garden, a hiking trail, a cafe, or a parking lot.
maybe it's a number of different places depending on the mood you're in. for me, when I want to journal or read I like to go to a cafe called Fido. when I want to pray I go hiking or sit in my car with the windows down in one of my favorite parking lots.
it's really important to quiet yourself down because, "peace is the potting soil of revelation." i feel like when you're in a time of transition you need to consistently be reflecting and see what you're learning and how you're growing and notice if you're keeping your mind focused on life giving thoughts. depression and negativity are especially unhelpful when you already feel kind of unsettled.
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anyways, those are my thoughts for the weekend. be back soon :)
