My Hydro Flask Broke

I broke my hydro flask at camp this summer... What is a hydro flask you ask?

It’s an amazing water bottle that keeps your drinks ice cold for hours upon hours, literally will keep ice in your bottle for like 12 hrs. It was given to me a few summers ago and I love it, it’s perfect for long runs in the heat and especially perfect for hot summer days at camp. When I broke it I didn't want to throw it away because it's been to many camps with me. It’s marked with dents, scratches and stickers, it’s been lost a few times and re-found. It's not just a water jug, it’s a story in a water bottle.

Anywho, I broke it this summer at Buckner, but kept using it because it was the only water bottle I had. I carried it everyday, broken, and little pieces slowly but surely began falling out. My friend Jillian researched online and found out you can get a new part to replace the broken one FOR FREE!

Yay I was so excited to get home and get this bad boy fixed.

I got home and life just went fast and I forgot about my hydro flask.  I have tons of cups and bottles at home,  but when you're at camp and it's your only one it's easy to remember it's broken. At home however, when you have tons of cups, its easy to forget to fix the broken one.

Yesterday I saw it in my sink and thought “Oh yeah, it’s broke and completely free to fix it, how did I forget to fix it?"

God shows us goodness in everything, even a flask. And right there at my sink I just heard God talk to me.

Don’t forget things that I’ve shown you are broke, let them get fixed for free. Don’t get comfortable carrying something that’s broken, don’t get used to broken. Let things become new.

I don't want to just settle and use all the other cups, I want this one fixed, right now. In a year when I have to go to camp and it's 100 degrees out in Texas ;), I’ll want cold water. I need to fix my flask now or else next summer I’ll still have a broken flask and still have warm water.

Don't forget the broken things that God has shown you. He always shows you a way to fix it through Him.

Why would we settle for broken when it's free to get a new one?

Love Them.

Have you ever not liked someone?

Be Honest.

You see them and think “hey If I never have to know them I’d be ok!” or “they’re kind of a tool, I’ll avoid eye contact and move on with life? “

If you know me at all you would know that I really do love people, like probably too hard and too fast for their comfort. If you’ve known me since I was a kid you would know that it was literally God who changed me because I wasn’t always so..um friendly. Although I won’t get the love thing perfect until heaven, I just always want to get closer and closer to loving like Jesus loves.

Anywho, I’ll keep this short and sweet, God is working on this with me. I used to notice if I didn’t like someone and just walk away from them, no big deal. We don’t have to be friends with everrrrryyyyonneee.  But then the Lord started turning my heart to it, it wasn’t that I have to be friends with everyone, It’s that he tells me not to hate people. So if He brings someone into my life or your life, and you find yourself not liking them, something is moving there.

The more I feel that, and talk with God on it, everytime He has me walk towards that person and talk to them. Learn their story, sharpen my heart, take out what’s ugly and put in what God there.

My favorite part is that some of the most amazing, most impactful people in my life today were people I can vividly remember thinking “ehh I don’t want to know them!”

And everytime God goes “I love them”, everytime.

I don’t know why I’m writing this tonight, maybe I’ve written about this before but today is a new day.

I guess the point is, meet people, and if there is someone you don’t like there is a blessing right on the other side of knowing them. Find out who they are, maybe they need to know you, maybe you need to know them, or maybe God just wants to continue to show you how much He loves them. And just to love them, talk to them because God says it's what He wants. Who knows, maybe I'm the one that people don't want to be friends with and God is telling you to talk to me, a friendship in the making :) 

I’m thankful for God, I’m thankful He opens my eyes to show me it’s Him that loves people first, not me. I’m thankful that He gives me opportunity to see how much He’s making me like Him. I'm thankful that when I see someone now I'm not sure of I get excited and think "ohhh I can't wait to see how this turns out." I’m thankful that the time it takes for me to go from “eh I don’t want to talk to them” to “Hi I’m Lindsay” is getting shorter and shorter.

Let's Dance God

So I just had my first guitar lesson. Yeah...so I’ve played for years now, but never took the time to learn from someone better than me. What a gift these lessons already are, the world of music is so large and beautiful, I can’t wait to soak it all up.

We talked for about 10 min and then he said “you have to sing the song you’ve been given. There is no one out there that has listened to all the exact music you’ve listened to, the exact mixture of influences. Only you have the exact song in you, it needs to be sung. You can’t sing or play like me, you can only do what you were made to do.”

WOW.

Ok.

His one statement summed up my summer in Texas. With out giving you the 12 hr version of the summer (call if you want to hear it, it's awesome), God just really showed me how much he loves the authentic and real Lindsay. He made me exactly how I am, dancing, singing, laughing, He made me. He didn’t make me you and He showed me this summer He is waiting on me and excited for me to be uniquely me. He was jealous for me this summer in making sure I knew it, he was waiting and what was on the other side was amazing. He took fear off of me and showed me so much joy in going where he’s made for me, there is joy waiting there for me.

He also showed me so much freedom there is in just being me, exactly where I am today, and letting people see me and love me just as I am.

I can’t sing your song, you can’t sing mine, someone needs to hear about Jesus through my song. All the turns, the twist, the melodies that are unique to me, that song needs to be sung.

Thanks God for making us so unique, God please help us continue to want to sing our song. It’s freedom to be who He’s called us to be in Him, and it frees others to be themselves in Him as well. We have to go where He's leading, even if it's weird and totally out of the box. It actually is going to be out of the box, He doesn't fit in the world, not even close. So his plan won't either, but we can trust Him because He's the one waiting to take our hand, spin us around and dance with us. 

I'm so excited for this new season with God, I don’t know what or who it holds in it, but I'm coming home new. I hope there are a lot of songs, videos, random adventures, destinations unknowns. I hope there is dancing in parking lots, dancing in the kitchen, dancing with cute guys ;). I hope it is filled with gut laughter and some tears too. I don’t know what or who is ahead of me, but I know God has already done it and it’s going to be amazing.

Here's a pic from Texas because I love pictures. The place where He sparked my heart yet again.

Thanks God