Time Flies!

2 Corinthians 4:8-12
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

For the past year and a half, God has brought to mind this passage and spoken to me through it. Sometimes it seems that the death I carry around in my body is the physical ramifications of having lupus, but in this season it seems as though this passage is a fresh reminder of the call to pour out my life for others.

Before I was diagnosed with lupus, I can remember always living a busy life. I moved quickly from one activity to the next without much time in between to rest. After having been diagnosed three years ago, it seems like my life came to a screeching halt. I didn't have a lot of energy to expend on doing anything besides what needed to be done. It was difficult at first, but I came to enjoy a simple lifestyle. I now highly value going to bed early, taking extended breaks at lunch, and even afternoon naps ( a luxury I would rarely have afforded myself before).

Since I have moved back to Norman, I find the pace of my life suddenly hyped back up to warp speed! Besides working as the Children's director, I am working at Starbucks, helping lead a our college community group, managing team childcare, helping coordinate a mission trip to Peru, and investing relationally in the lives of girls at our church. About a week into this hectic life, I was dying! What happened to this quiet life I had come to enjoy? Was I missing something?

It seems as though a new season of my life can be described again by that passage in 2 Corinthians. Even though being so busy means death is at work in me, life is abounding in the lives of people at our church. People are growing in their relationships with the living God, kids are memorizing scripture, people who were hurt or estranged from the church are being knit into the body of Christ. Even though it feels like I am dying sometimes and that I am busier than I would like to be, the abundant life of the living God is being made manifest in the lives of those around me.