You resonate in the ever-changing me.

My original title for this entire blog was, “It was Jesus but she did not recognize him.” That came from a life-changing moment in my tiny room in Club Fitty when I was begging to hear the Lord’s voice. I didn’t know His voice, or so I thought. John 20:15 came to mind randomly, so not knowing what the verse said, I semi-skeptically looked it up. I was shocked. The title comes from the end of verse 14. He was telling me He was there with me, I just wasn’t recognizing His voice. That day I surely did.

I love that. I would venture to say that Jesus is always right with us, we just fail to recognize him. Maybe we’re not looking. Maybe we are and still can’t seem to find him. But I am 100% confident that when we seek Him, we will eventually find Him, our just and lovely Savior [Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 7:7]. So don’t give up.

But now I really wanted to change things up on here. You might not care, but this is my little corner of cyberspace and I want to take care of it :) I’m changing the title because I find myself changing in so many ways. Maybe you don’t notice, or haven’t noticed, but I know. So the new title ....

You resonate in the ever-changing me.

Two reasons why:

1. I feel like I’m always changing, and I see it as a positive thing. I look back at the me in high school and wonder who that girl was. I look back at the me a year ago and wonder why any of my roommates liked me. I look back at the me three months ago and feel like I’ve grown ten-fold. I think it has something to do with grace. Okay I’m lying, I know it has everything to do with grace.

You see, there’s something in my personality that always yearns for more. Why would I ever stay the same when I know there is so much more I could be? There’s always something else to learn, to implement, to enjoy. I don’t know why this is, but I always want to be like this. I always want to yearn to know more about the God who created me and loves me and then show the world.

2. Resonate. Mmm, how I love that word. Webster’s definition of this word is to produce or be filled with a deep, full, reverberating sound. There is something so great about this to me. When something resonates with me, it touches my soul. Music can do this, love can do this, emotion can do this, truth can do this. The “You” in my title is Jehovah, the same God yesterday, today and forever. He resonates in the ever-changing me. He is the reason for change. Anything good in me is from Him. He resonates in me because He lives in me, and it is undeserved. Hallelujah.

Yahweh, Yahweh, great is Your glory, You go before me. Oh we sing, holy, holy, Your ways are lovely, so high above me. - Needtobreathe.

This feels right.

Somewhere in the land of cyberspace, my beautiful roommate Christine Kaufman has written a similar blog post. But since I cannot find said blog post, I wanted to write my own thoughts on a subject that has become a buzzword in our household and among friends. You can’t live without it; you must live by it. Without it, your actions seem wayward and meaningless. It’s an explanation for all your actions, or at least it should be. It can help you make major life decisions. It’s a life motto.

Now before you write life mottos off like some sort of new years resolution you never stick to, hear me out. We take these very seriously, as you will soon see. Here’s a taste of a few ....

I’ll start with my own, that only seems fair. If you know me, you may have heard me say this once or a thousand times. “If it feels right, do it.” This is a branch and tiny expansion of my response to the constant question, “Why’d you do that, Rae?” It felt right! Now this statement requires a strong moral compass and ethical values, neither of which I have. I’m kidding - sorta. This life motto is neither godly nor super inspiring. I could’ve chosen the golden rule, something about it being more blessed to give than receive, or live like you’re going to die tomorrow. Whatever. I like mine. I live by it, and it hasn’t failed me yet. Yet. Or has it?

“If you feel it, do it. / Do what you feel.” by the wonderful Katuschka Rakovec. It may seem slightly similar to mine at first glance, but this life motto fully captures who she is. If you feel something, do it. And do it like you feel it! Don’t hide. Don’t be fearful. Show your emotion. Do it big. Be passionate! If you need an example of how to do this, just watch her.

“Fake it till you make it.” by the great and brilliant Jonathan Janos. I really like this one. How many of us feel this way? Like we’re faking it all the time - we’re not that confident in what we’re doing. But if we can make people believe that we are, maybe, just maybe, we’ll make it. You may hate this one. I think it’s hilarious. Jonathan is on his way to Germany to serve us as an engineer in the army for the next three years. He has now made it, and I don’t know if there was actually much faking involved.

“You win some, you lose more.” by my favorite Paige in the whole world. She is now ready to kill me, because this isn’t her actual life motto. But you may hear her say it every once in a while as a joke. Her real life motto is, “For His glory and my joy.” Borrowed from John Piper, we’ve now moved into the more godly realm. She really does live her life this way, though, to the best of her ability. It’s inspiring to me every day.

“Where you invest your love, you invest your life.” by my best friend Mary Griffith. Also a borrowed quote, from the band-craze-for-a-good-reason Mumford and Sons, this one rings so true. She’s practicing that daily. We all are, really. If we invest our love in ourselves, we invest our lives in ourselves, which proves empty. If we invest our love in the Lord, we will reap what we sow. A lot of times that looks like investing our love in other people, that they might know the truth.

“Perspective is everything; God is good.” by the aforementioned Christine Kaufman. I love, love, love this one. Chew on that all day. Perspective is everything absolutely. Attitude can be a choice. And when you know and trust and believe that God is good, there is always beauty rising from the ashes. Always. God is always good, so life is never hopeless.

I cannot currently remember Katie Crosby’s because it’s long and inspiring and borrowed from a catechism maybe, but just know that it’s good. And godly. Like her. I’ll take this opportunity and say she’s a person I feel so privileged to have spent some time with so far this year.

Why do I only have girls’ life mottos on here besides Jonathan? Maybe I just haven’t asked the males I know. Or maybe they don’t buy into it as much. Mistake. You should think on your life motto. I always want to hear other people’s if they have one.

A few suggestions if you’re struggling for one -

“No pain, no gain.” Good for work-out nuts and discipline freaks.

“Hey, it’ll make a good story some day.” To be used with discretion.

“No risk, no reward.” For all you dreamers.

“Hakuna Matata.” Ohh, Timon, you are so wise.

“It’s better to be hated for who I really am, then loved for who I am not.” A-freakin-men.

Why did I write this silly blog post? Refer to the title. Works every time.