Skip to main content

dear younger me...a contest

I've gotten the opportunity to listen to just Christian music every day while I've been in Bentonville, and it has been wonderful. It may sound odd, but I've found that I've been more optimistic (not all the time—I'm human), less stressed, and more settled. Okay, I know I'm sounding a little bit like I'm trying to sell snake oil...but there's a purpose to my story.

The station I've been listening to is holding a contest right now called “Dear Younger Me,” based on the song with the same name. The idea is to write a letter to yourself, and the winner of their contest gets concert tickets to a show at the AMP in July.

I've decided to hold my own contest. In the comments, submit your own letter to your younger self. It can be written out in the comment, it can be a link, or you can send me an email—it's entirely up to you. I'll leave the contest open through the weekend. Then, the winner will get to pick a couple of my books for free.

I'm going to post my own letter to get you started:

Dear Younger Me,

You think you have life all planned out. You think you have everything all together—and that's just how you like it. Oh my goodness, you have no idea what's coming. There's something you need to learn: life doesn't go according to plan. You don't get to have all the answers, as hard as that is for you to accept. You are getting ready to run into more dead ends and detours in life than you ever would have thought imaginable.

I know you want to have a road map. I know you want to be able to see God's plan laid out before you, all the “i”s dotted and the “t”s crossed neatly. The thing is, God doesn't work like that. His plans aren't your plans, and there's no way for you to even begin to understand His mind.

Your life is about to veer so far off course that you'll think it will never get back on track. And if you're only considering the track you're on right now, I guess you're right. Life will never be “normal,” at least not with your current definition of normal. But you know what? Life will keep going.

There are so many things I want to tell you, to prepare you for, so you aren't knocked off your feet so much. The thing is, if I told you everything right now you would think there would be no way you could handle it.

And on your own, you won't be able to handle it.

You need to learn to let go of control. Because, you see, you aren't really in control to begin with. Your life is in the palm of His hand—and like His hands, your life will be scarred and pierced. The suffering will be agonizing, so much so that at times you'll think you can't take another breath.

Let go. You aren't holding onto Him; He's holding you. He doesn't need your strength. You don't have to be strong for everyone all the time.

He's got you, and He'll get you through.

Love,
An Older, Slightly Broken (and more humble) Me

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thoughts? I would love to hear them!
~Mandy

Popular posts from this blog

what's next?

My husband and I were talking to our kids the other day about how important it is for them to learn to stand for their beliefs and live the life God has called them to now, while it is easy. We were talking about how one day in the future, they will most likely be forced to either cave to the world or stand for God, and in that moment the decision will mean a whole lot more than just social standing. Right now, Christians in the United States have been given a reprieve. The election of Trump was honestly not something I expected. I've written for quite a few years now about the decline of our nation, and I know I'm not the first--or only--one to point out the downward spiral of morality that we've been seeing for decades. As a nation founded by men who claimed the protection of God, I truly believe we chose to be held to the standards of the covenants we entered. God keeps His side of His promises--the good and the bad. That means that broken covenants have consequences. Wh...
Post a Comment
Read more

light

  Our nation--and our world--is in a very dark place right now. Everywhere you turn, you see chaos, confusion, fear, despair, loss, and hopelessness. People are lost. People are broken. People are living with shame and regret, desperate to hide the parts of themselves they are afraid for other people to see. In their desperation to hide, they are running toward the darkness... " Still some people preferred the darkness over the light because their actions were dark. Some of humankind hated the light. They scampered hurriedly back into the darkness where vices thrive and wickedness flourishes." (John 3:19b & 20) When people are ashamed of their actions, they hide them in the dark. They don't want them exposed to the world--it would be embarrassing, humiliating for people to see all the things better left hidden. They cling to the darkness because they are afraid of what will happen if light shines on the things they are ashamed of. People fear things they don't kn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Stand up and speak

 Pastor Allen Jackson recently said, "I think when you accept your Christian identity card for the Kingdom, you forfeit your neutrality with evil." In my writing here, I haven't been very vocal when it comes to politics. A quick count based on the "politics" tag shows 37 of 409 posts, so 9% through the years. Of those, I've been pretty diplomatic in my writing--encouraging you to do the research and exercise your right and responsibility to vote, no matter who you vote for. I've basically remained neutral...but I don't think that is something we can do any longer. If you listen to the loudest voices in our society right now, we as Christians should keep our beliefs out of our politics. We are told to keep quiet, and if we do on occasion try to speak up for biblical truths we are told that our words are hateful and bigoted. As a result, most of us have listened. We've pretty much agreed to sit down and shut up. It's past time for us to stand u...
Post a Comment
Read more