With today feeling like the first day of true spring (even though technically, the first day of spring is sometime next week), I decided some major spring cleaning was in order. One of my favorite parts of a good deep cleaning has always been discovering things I had forgotten about. I am the kind of deep-cleaner who likes to go through and read every piece of paper before I throw it away, stop to look at old pictures or flip through scrapbooks, and dance around to good songs I hear on the radio. Needless to say, cleaning today has been an all day job.
I have a spiderman backpack that I got over a year ago for fall semester (I also got a Spidey lunchbox but that is simply irrelevant). I haven't needed to use ole Spidey this year because the majority of my classes have all been online and I have not had to tote a ton of things around campus. However, Spidey saw me through some great times...and also through some rough times.
Upon opening him up today (him being Spidey, Spidey being my backpack...not the lunchbox-clearly) I discovered a ton of papers and a few books and a notebook and pens galore. I dumped it all out and began going through the papers piece by piece. What I discovered on those papers was not leftover homework and to-do lists and birthday cards and trash (which yes, I did find all of that in there) but it was so much more. It was my entire life-over the past year-hidden away in a backpack I had all but forgotten existed.
So, what did your life look like the past year? You may be asking. This time last year I was a very new Christian. I was in a foreign country, Berlin, Germany, on a school trip and struggling to find my new place in this world as someone who devoutly loved Jesus and was still holding onto the things of this world. I was just getting involved at Southwest Church (via their Easter musical I was in). I had just finished up a play, Snow White-which was my very first lead. I was entering what would be a few months of utter darkness, which would build strength and character for me and ultimately, bring me closer to my lover and creator Jesus Christ. Last summer I was a camp counselor at a Christian camp, for the very first time in my life, and I adored every second. I made lifelong friends and got to see what it was like minstering to youth and relating to them on a level that only God Himself could have His hand involved. I was recovering from heartbreak-heartbreak that had haunted and taunted me all the days of my life up until then. I was meeting new people, who would forever impact and change my entire life. In the fall I became extremely involved in ministry oppertunities at my church, and surrounded not by other members, but by my new FAMILY.
All that, and so much more, happened over the past year. And as I opened Spidey, and read the papers inside, I realized how much I have grown over that time. Notes which held thoughts and quotes and scriptures from someone so HUNGRY for the Word of God-were all inside the bag. Memories from the plays and the camp and the people I have met along the way-were all inside the bag. Books and devos and pens and highlighters which all lent a hand in my transformation, were all inside the bag. Most importantly, all of those things were together, inside the bag-my JOURNEY is what the bag held. My redemption, my transformation, what God was doing in my heart before the bag came along and what He will continue to do in me all the days of my life were ALL INSIDE THE BAG.
My mind was blown. To realize I did not recognize the person I was once. To see the change happening to me as if I was watching a television show. To read the words of this broken hearted person, this new Christian, this hungry for Jesus young girl, this...ME....was, awe-inspiring.
God is so good right? So so good. SO good, that even in the MIDST of a 'forever-transformation' He is allowing me to see how far I've come, where I've been, and both of those will help me to trust Him in where I am going.
What an incredible path I have been on. Thank you Spidey, for holding it all together for me and waiting for a great spring cleaning to reveal to me all you have been waiting to do. Thank you Jesus, for giving me Spidey and the inspiration to clean! haha I hope you all have a wonderful SPring Break-and in the middle of family vacation or road trips or parties or what have you, that you remember to stop and thank God for Rescuing you, and for guiding you along your journey!
In Him,
Meg
