The Kelleys

So, I know the cutest, smartest baby ever born. I also know a beautiful and kind woman who has championed me, challenged me, and greatly shaped who I am today. To further add to my joy, I know a  good man who has gotten down in trenches with me, stood calmly in my chaos and made sure that I feel seen, loved and heard. Lucky me, I don't only know these people, I am related to them. My nephew Jackson, sister Mandi and brother-in-law Jake are some of the most phenomenal people I have ever encountered. For the past 23 years my sister has been by my side. In marrying Jake she gave me the brother I always wanted and in having Jackson, they gave me a nephew who is easy to adore. I am so thankful for them and all they do for me.

In 16 days they are moving across the world. I am so proud of them for obeying God's call to go, even when it is hard or others don't fully understand. I have no doubt that they will change the world we live in by fearlessly loving others. They are gifted in great ways and have been equipped for the journey they are about to undertake.

As part of their family, I am so excited to support them on this new adventure. I am glad that they are getting to go where they feel called. I love that other's have joined in to support them as they go and that Mandi will finally be going longterm to a place she has felt like needed to be her home since we were little. I love that my nephew will have a worldview and reference point unlike any other when it comes to how his view of the kingdom of God is shaped. I am excited for the men who will get to see what God calls men to be in the example Jake will set by loving and leading his family. I am praying for Mandi's future friends and the women who will begin to question the way things have always been by watching her raise her son and support her husband. I love that they are finally getting to go.

As part of their family, selfishly, I am sad to see them leave. I am going to miss my sister and her family more than I can express. I am going to miss living life with them, visiting them whenever I want to, calling or texting everyday and getting constant picture updates. They have shaped who I am and without them, it will be hard for awhile.

But as much as I love them, and will miss them, I trust God more. More than my family, they are his creations. Greater than my needs are the needs of the world they are venturing into. Before they are anything to me, they are everything to him. The world is his, they are his, and this is the way in which he has ordained that they collide. I will be okay without them and the world will be better for them. I can joyfully let go and cheer on as they move forward in these next days. I can be happy and sad because most of all, I am God's and I understand following his leadership. Mandi, Jake and Jackson will always be in my heart, prayers and thoughts. While we may not occupy the same physical space, nothing can separate us because we are untied by the love of God. They are simply going to unite more people in that love.

So, in the days to come, pray for my family; those of us who are going and those of us who are staying. Pray for Mandi and Jake in the days to come as they redefine normal and undertake a worthy and glorious challenge. Pray for the people they are going to live alongside. But most of all, pray for where God is leading you. Everyone, everywhere at every time needs God. It doesn't matter what continent you are on, God has called us to live alongside his creation and minister wherever we are. As they join the church there, let's step up the church here. Let's live here with the attitude and mindset they they will live with there, that everyone deserves a chance to hear about the love of God and that we need to be the torch bearers in the dark places wherever they may be. As they shine God's light in Chad, you shine it in your life, in your town, and in your sphere of influence.

If you want to get to know these awesome people or support them in any way check them out at www.thekelleysinafrica.blogspot.com

Celebration

This weekend I got to celebrate some awesome things. My Bebo, who is one of my favorite people in the entire world, turned 75 and celebrated his 53 wedding anniversary with my Grandmommy (who coincidentally is another one of my favorite people!) I also got to spend some time with my Aunt Meredith and Uncle Ben who are raising up some amazing people in my cousins Mary-Kate, Sara, Jake and Caleb. This weekend was full of celebration and comfort. It was great to get to spend time celebrating something that is worthy of celebration and being with people who let me be myself without question or motive. 

Coming back to Waco was a little bit hard. I love Waco, but it hasn't always been the easiest place for me to live. Some of the best times and worst times in my life have happened inside these city limits. I have grown from someone I liked, into someone I didn't, into the person I am learning to be and love today. So this week started off a little...off. 

Monday was a catch up day, tuesday was a little blue, and today I got a reality check. This weekend was so great because I got to truly celebrate something worth being excited about with people who love me unconditionally and exactly as I am while still hoping and investing in my continued betterment. I realized I have that everyday (even in Waco! *gasp*) 

God is worth celebrating. Every second of every single day God is worth celebrating because I have been created to celebrate and worship him. I also have the freedom to come to him exactly as I am and be loved. Part of loving me is refusing to let me be stagnant and encouraging future growth and movement, but I am always loved exactly as I am. While my family are incredible, they can never love me as much as God does and while they do amazing things, God will always be more worthy of my celebration. 

So today I am encouraging you to celebrate God. Celebrate who he is, what he has done and who he made you to be. Celebrate who you were that you have grown from, who you have the potential to become, and who you are right now. Celebrate the journey you are taking together, the amazing things that God has brought you through and to and the amazing things to come. If you feel a little off, remember God can handle that and that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God doesn't make mistakes and he made you. You are worth celebrating and today, I am celebrating you, me and the God who made us. 

Happy Wednesday! 

Holiday Hope

“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” C.S. Lewis 

Our world was changed recently. We were impacted yet again by someone who decided to change the world we live in by injecting fear and grief into our lives. Someone in pain decided to cause pain to others. It isn't fair, it isn't right and it isn't justifiable. There is no way to get around the fact that innocent children were harmed because one man thought the world owed him a debt of some kind. No matter the stance one takes on the issue, or the connection they feel to the trauma, the fact remains that horror reigned that day, and we will be dealing with the aftermath in the days to come. 

There is one thing that cannot be taken from us in this holiday season, however hard the world may try. We have hope. Christ came into a world full or turmoil and strife to offer an alternative. This holiday season is about the love of God being born to us in human form. This glorious act of love and devotion outweighs anything that could ever dampen our spirits. We have hope. We are made for more and meant for more than anything the world has to offer. People may disappoint us or cause us to doubt what being human really means, but God will always surpass our expectations of him; even our hope will be surpassed one day. This holiday season, we still have a reason to celebrate.

We also have a purpose. If one man can change our world with an act of horror, we hold the same power to be able to change the world with an act of love. This is a time to be surrounded by friends and family, but there are those who are alone and hurting. Seek out people who need to be radically impacted by love and friendship. They are all around you. We have the power to change the world in meaningful and wonderful ways. Let's look for ways to collide with the circumstances and situations around us in a beneficial manner. God calls us to be in the world for a reason. Go find your reason. 

This holiday season I am going to celebrate Jesus and the wondrous potential that is still in the world. God doesn't make mistakes and he made the world...and me. There is a reason for both. I am going to seek to honor him while looking for ways to love a hurting world. Hopefully you can find joy this season, and find a way to give joy to others. 

May the peace of Christ be with you and bring you the hope and joy this season exemplifies. Merry Christmas! 

 

Future File

Right now I am in a marriage counseling class and a child counseling class. I am one of the only students in both of those classes who doesn't currently have a child or a spouse so everything I have learned has been filed away in my "future" file. Today was research paper day as I edited and submitted my two final projects for these classes.(Blech!) One paper was on how to increase marital longevity and the other was on how to appropriately love your children and when to let them go. As I was writing these two papers, four worlds kept popping up; responsibility, blessing, work and growth.
Looking back on my life, I realized something amazing. I have been blessed by a family that took responsibility for my spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual growth. I have prayer warrior aunts, dedicated parents, upstanding uncles, involved grandparents and an amazing sister who all took their responsibilities in my life seriously. I have seen relationships modeled for me where partners strive to be a blessing to each other, seeking to selflessly loving their spouse in the way Christ loved the Church. I have seen parents put forth the work it takes to grow with their children, not away from them and spouses continually seek to grow together to lead their families the best ways they know how. I have seen the hard work that it takes to make a relationship work, and have had the tools with which to make it work modeled for me.
No family is perfect, and I don't put mine on a pedestal, but I am so thankful for the ways they have poured into me and molded me. I didn't realize all the ways they set examples for me before entering these classes, and I may never know the full extent to which they have impacted me, but today, I recognized it in some small way and needed to take the opportunity to express my gratitude.
So, Mom and Dad, Jake and Mandi, Ben and Meredith, Christi and Jerry, Grandmommy and Bebo, Nanna and Papaw, Richard and Melinda, and Robert and Becky, thank you for being the spouses and parents you are and were. It makes a difference. To all the other great examples in my life too numerous to name, you are seen and appreciated as well.
 On days when it is hard, remember the next generation is watching you and waiting to follow in your footsteps. What you do matters. Who you are matters, as individuals and as a unit; and the legacy you are leaving behind impacts those who follow. Thank you for being people worthy of emulating. You have given me great things to put in my future file, and I am glad this is the family and circle I was born into.

Words

Today I was reminded of something that I think I have always known, yet forgotten the importance of; the fact that my voice matters. Not just my church voice, or political voice, or class voice, but my voice in general has the power to tear others down or build them up. Yes, my witness is very important. Yes, finding where and what to say politically is very important. Yes, learning information and processing it in class is important, but so are the words I say at Walmart, on the phone, standing in line and driving in my car.
I have this amazing friend who changed my life but uttering seven profound words to me one day. She said "if it matters to you, it matters." Simply using those words to give me validation in a storm helped me feel that I wasn't alone. Since then, I have tried to adopt this mantra as my own. It doesn't matter if I think something carries the same amount of weight as you do, if it matters to you, it matters to me. Telling someone that can be life altering. I know, because mine was.
You don't even have to really know someone for your words to impact them. There are so many people out there in the world today who think they speak on my behalf because we share a label. The fact that I am a woman doesn't mean that I automatically agree with everything that is said on behalf of womankind. I am a Christian, but that doesn't mean that I agree with everyone who claims to speak for me. Just because I am an American doesn't mean that my country always conveys the message to the world that I would choose to. I have a voice and I should be using it.
A crazy church claiming Baptist in their title is protesting Baylor today. Their words are hurting people that I am called to love and minister to. So, what am I going to do about it? I am going to be careful with my words and make sure that as clearly as possible I am communicating to the world what I want to say, and how I think it should be said. I would encourage you to do three things during this time of thanksgiving:
1. Realize the weight of your words
2. Use the weight of your words to positively impact those around you
3. Take back your voice from those who claim to speak for you and clarify who you are and what you want.
This thanksgiving I am thankful that I have been blessed by people who have used their words to positively impact my life. I hope you can say the same.

Mondays

Today I am reminded that life is what you make it. This morning I woke up with that yucky monday feeling; that all encompassing, ever fatiguing, makes you want to pout and stamp your foot like you are three feeling. This week already holds so many things that I know need to be accomplished in it and the surprises and spontaneity are still yet to come. Instantly I was overwhelmed with my to-do list and underwhelmed with the energy I had to get it completed. My morning prayer was more like a morning whine to God about all I had to do and how I was feeling about it. God, patient father that he is, let me have my moment before reminding me that I am simply called to be. I am called to be his, for his glory and his renown and whatever may come at me while I am on that path, I can deal with it. Why? Because I am not alone. My mom gave me a necklace that has four sides and each side says something that God says I am. The words are "chosen", "cherished", "celebrated", and "created". I am all of these and so much more! So I checked my attitude and left my room. I grabbed my computer, some hot tea and headed outside. Today is a beautiful day in Waco. The weather is perfect and I am blessed to be able to do school where I choose, so outside on the porch it was!
As I finished school for the day a few hours later, I was reminded that there is a beauty in beginnings. This week is just beginning and has unlimited opportunities to minister, created, rejoice and simply be. So my monday pity party is officially over, and this week is looking like it is going to be a great one! If you are stuck in the monday mournings, remember that you too are created, cherished, chosen and celebrated. May your week bless you in unexpected ways!

I'm voting for.....

So this morning (as it seems to happen most Sunday mornings) our college pastor Kyle Dunn had a surprise up his sleeve. The sermon was about politics. (I know, I know...bear with me) He sent out an email earlier in the week that had a little blurb about the sermon and when I heard it was about politics, it made me want to call in sick this morning. But, because I trust God and Kyle's discernment to shepherd us in the right direction I went, hoping he wouldn't fail me for this first time in 5 years. Oh me of little faith.
I like to think that I am a fairly tolerant person. I have some foundational things that I won't budge on (God is in control, his son died for me, I am forgiven and his, and my life's purpose is to bring him glory as I follow the path he has for me), but i'm not going to judge you if your favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla when the obvious best one is mint chocolate chip. This leaves me at a loss in the political realm. I go in wanting to love and understand people and their viewpoints but instead I get slammed with snarky memes and ranting statuses that seem to either call me racist or a heretic. I'd like to think that i'm neither, and Kyle and Jesus seem to agree.
In Titus 3:1-2 it says "Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities,to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people." Now that is a political standpoint I can get behind. 
I have taken many a poly sci class and have had teachers tell me everything from my vote doesn't matter, to my vote decides the fate of the entire world. First, neither is true. Second, my witness is more important than my vote. I am called to be a light in a dark place, a helping hand to those in need, an ear to listen, a heart to love, eyes to see and a support to those who lean on me. God is so much bigger than my facebook status, and he is not a republican, democrat or American. God is on his own side, with his own agenda, for his own purpose and glory, and I am called to fall in line. 
When voting I am going to try to stay on that line and see which candidate it is closest to. Either way, if my guy wins or loses, I am going to have faith that my God is sovereign and no amount of ballots can thwart his agenda. But, my attitude and demeanor before, during and after casting my ballot can bring him glory. 
Somewhere along the way our political parties seem to have turned into the equivalent of high school rival parties. One turns their music up louder and one has a better DJ, but both are working to bring the other down. Our campaigns sling so much mud and dirt that we all get covered in the grime. What would happen if we were to be people who were respectful, graceful, tactful and gentle in the sea of dirty tricks and half truths? What if we were to seek understanding and give it in return? What if we were to be a people who held firmly to their beliefs because they were biblical, not because they toed the party line? What if we were to be a people who sought to love others before we judged them based on who they vote for? I feel like having that attitude, and seeking to be firm, but loving and not degrading, has much more significance than my one vote does. My attitude and my witness have eternal significance, no one sees my ballot. 
Neither candidate is they harbinger of death, and neither is the Messiah. We already have one and he is seated on his throne in heaven in full control of all that happens down here. My God is sovereign and he has called me to engage in the world around me in order to bring it closer to him. So this is me, i'm engaging in the political world. I am educating myself about the issues and candidates and I will vote when the time comes, but during this process I am going to remember my true aim is to please God and he is pleased when I love on and rejoice in his creation.
So in the days to come I would encourage you to take the high road. Remember that both candidates are men who are fallible and sin, but were also created by a God who loves them and when one of them becomes our Commander in Chief, God is still sovereign over all. God has it in control, I am his, you are his, America is his and our candidates are his, all I have to do is play the part i've been given with gentleness and grace. I hope you all will join me.