Shaubulous

"It's never wrong to speak the truth in love." Sounds simple yet how many times do we shrink back and talk around the truth, or end up with the person we are trying to speak truth to getting on the defensive and we walk away offended and the truth still out in the middle of no where.

I recently had a very dear friend that had the courage to speak the truth to me in love.  Because of her courage the truth she spoke became a defining moment in my life.  It was a moment that led me back to the very center of who I am and who God created me to be...ME! 

One of the things she said to me is that somewhere along the way I had stopped being me and started to duplicate her. Ouch! My first response (without her knowing I might add) was almost defensive but that lasted only a second.  I KNEW in that moment she was right!  Why wouldn't I want the fabulous life she has?  Of course being her even on her worst day seemed so much easier than being me on my best day. The last two years of life has brought a few shabby days my way and somewhere along the way I think duplication of someone else's life became easier than living out my own reality.

My sweet friend explained to me that she missed ME.  It was me she fell in love with as her friend.  Me, myself, and I... I was the person she cherished as a friend.  She said there was not a person on this earth that could be me the way I could.  Could this be true? 

It was two and  half years ago that me and my precious family (Ed, Kendall and I) left behind life as we knew it in complete obedience to God and moved to Texas. As hard as it was to say good bye (especially to my precious friend that had the courage to speak the truth in love to me) we did it and it turned out NOTHING LIKE WE THOUGHT IT WOULD!  

Surely when you walk in obedience with God everything is absolutely fabulous...Right?  Well, for us it turned out to be anything but fabulous or so I thought.  Truth be told, I have felt pretty shafted at times by God over these past two years, that is until recently when this conversation with my friend became a moment of revelation for me.  Don't get me wrong, not all of the past two and a half years have been all shabby days. Not only have we made new friends that were worth every single mile we have also seen God do some pretty amazing things in our lives, and in the lives of others during this time.  As a family we knew God as our Savior. We did after all follow him all the way to Texas. We now however know him on new levels in the most "fabulous" ways and yet it was through some pretty "shabby" days. 

I now call this life God has called us to live out for the time being in Texas SHABULOUS.  As for me...I don't have to hide behind the fabulousness of anyone.  My precious friend that I speak of never once portrayed a life that was perfect. In fact it was the opposite. She has shared life's struggles with me but all I could see was my own weakness and disappointment.  It was me simply feeling that my shabby didn't quite equal someone else's fabby!:)

So this is where I'm beginning as I introduce myself to the world of blogging.  It's something that God has had on my heart for the last 6 years.  Interestingly enough,  I didn't think I had anything fabulous enough to share but I was so very wrong.  I've got a whole lot of "Shabulousness" to share however spell check sure wants to argue with me that that is even a word.  Maybe it's not in the dictionary but it is definitely me and it's definitely my life..."Simply Shabulous!"