"Looking for Lovely"

Well, we’ve made it to another Friday. Great job, friends. As the excitement of summer comes to an end, it’s sometimes hard to remain focused on important things. Your commitment to you is important. I pray you will continue in this study to the very end, because I don’t want any of us to miss what God has prepared for us.

Today, I’m doing a brave thing. I am sharing a podcast with you that I KNOW will not be for everyone. Adam Young is a therapist, and he is the one that will be talking on the podcast. Can I just lead with brutal honesty? His voice isn’t as energetic and fun as Annie’s. His content isn’t as light and laughable. Much of what he has to say could make you uncomfortable.

Why in the world am I doing this on a Friday? What could possibly make this podcast worthy of summer book club?

Well, besides my own therapy and reading, this podcast has been most helpful in my journey over the last two years. I could have saved a lot of money if I’d just worked my way through all of Adam’s episodes with an open heart. Yesterday, we talked about the need to know and care for ourselves in order to really know and care for others. This first episode of “The Place We Find Ourselves” podcast clearly shares some of the obstacles to the lovely we are looking for in our lives. Our inability to look at and give space to the ugly parts of our lives and invite others there may be hindering us from seeing the fullness of God’s lovely in this world…. In our humanity.

If you don’t need this podcast, don’t listen. That will not hurt my feelings. If it’s too much for you, and you just aren’t in a place to be able to take it in yet, turn it off. BUT…. If you are sick and tired of running into the same walls, giving in to the same unhelpful moods, and constantly striving for the lovely life that everyone else seems to have to no avail, maybe it’s time to try something new.

My prayer is that a handful of you will listen to episode 1 and then decide to work through all of them. There is lovely to be found in all the parts of our story. That lesson may be the very key to beauty!

God, this is a hard day for me. I’m not sitting face to face with my friends. I don’t know them all well. I’m not sure this is the best place to open the door to deep conversation and talk of therapy and emotional healing. But, I trust You with all of my friends. You know their stories. You know where they find themselves right now. So, I pray You will lead the ones that are ready, the ones that need this podcast to listen. I pray You will cause all of us, regardless of where we are, to see Your mighty hand leading us in our processes of life. Amen.