The Next Phase

A bittersweet goodbye to our production of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY at Elkhart Civic Theatre, and a gigantic embrace to the next leg of the Journey to come. Tomorrow evening is a very important meeting for Green Olive and I, for one, am greatly looking forward to it. Now that our first fundraising campaign is over, we are in fairly good shape to get started on the cloth diaper project and are trusting God to give us the rest of what we need financially and emotionally to make it happen as time marches on. This first project will be a trial so we can learn how to teach, learn what the women are needing besides what we're providing, and learn how to make this a well-run program for the future.

In the meantime, some changes are happening for me, personally, as well. I'm tired of looking at myself in the mirror, or jumping on the scale, and being disappointed. I recently listened to a CD from the Oasis Network where speaker Lucas Miles discussed how we should be seeing ourselves as God sees us, recognizing the power of Christ within us, and that we have the ability to make changes in our thoughts and actions even when we don't feel like we do. Couple that with reading the beginning of The Daniel Plan book which I've heard a bit about so I did some research, and I have a new found desire to overhaul my life once again.

I look at it as shedding skin. Seasons in my life all have a purpose and I don't regret or begrudge them their time. However, when it's done, it's done. I've learned and grown, and need to strip that skin off and grow into my next one. I believe wholeheartedly in evolution -- we are evolving every single day. My main goal in life, always, is to constantly find the path that God has set out for me and to follow it. It's not simple, you know. It's not just, "Oh, there it is..." and then bouncing along like Tigger, filled with joy. No, sometimes you'll go through a deep, scary forest. Sometimes a storm will wash the path from your view. Sometimes the darkness will overshadow it and you'll lose sight. So this Journey of life is just finding it over and over again and sticking to it as best you can, asking God for help all along the way.

It's not easy.

But it's totally worth it.

Stephanie Jean