I met God at Starbucks today

This morning, I woke up at 7 AM. Definitely not my ideal time to wake up in the morning (not even close), but jet lag or overexhaustion or sickness or some of all of the above has made my sleeping patterns irregular and left me feeling just a little out of touch each day since I've been back. Today, just like any other day, I was determined to make the most of those last hours before I had to wake up for my first day of school, and I tried everything to go back to sleep. I prayed boring prayers that usually put me to sleep (sorry GOD), I read some C.S. Lewis (which I hoped would mentally stimulate me to exhaustion), I got up and checked my Facebook and e-mail (when do I ever not?), but eventually 9 AM rolled by and I gave up the fight. With an hour to spare, I decided to go to Starbucks to do my devos.

Tonight will be our first small group meeting of the quarter and of 2009. As excited as I am, I am also a little nervous as usual. This time, I am nervous because I have this vision for our group this quarter but I can't quite put it into words. I want my small group to feel the same excitement and passion that I feel about this vision, but somehow, when I share it outloud it seems to lose its effect.

So this morning in Starbucks, I journaled and prayed about this. Then I started reading. I decided to start on the book of James, since I want to teach out of this book this quarter. Without really knowing why, I began to copy down these verses into my journal...

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Halfway through, it hit me: this is the exact vision that I have for our small group. When I had no words, He gave me the Word to show me.

This quarter, I want my girls (and myself) to truly live out our faith instead of simply remaining stagnant and comfortable. I want us to be challenged and stretched. I want us to embrace trials and difficulties as opportunities for growth instead of simply seeing them as hindrances. Through these times of testing, I want us to come out stronger and bolder in Him, that we would be broken down and rebuilt in HIS Likeness.