A year ago {almost to the day}, my friend Jennie asked me to share my thoughts on some word prompts. The post is below. Crazy how my answers still ring true and my words speak reassurance to me in this new season of change. {PS – Jennie is the real deal. You need to be reading her book and following her on her blog and twitter.}

Years ago I began following a passionate young woman on twitter and on her blog: lindseynobles.com. I appreciated her honest, wrestling spirit. Now I am so happy to call her friend. We met just as she was departing Thomas Nelson into new uncharted territory. I so admired her faith in this new step, I wanted you to be inspired too.

I threw Lindsey some words and asked to share a little about them in her own life.

Today I am guest posting over on Ed Stetzer’s blog as a part of his “Thursday is for Thinkers” series. {I know, I know, I probably don’t come to the top of your mind when you list out today’s great thinkers.} I shared a little bit about the quest I’ve been on lately. And man, has it been a wild ride!

The Quest

Let me start by saying that “Thursday is for Thinkers” is probably the most intimidating title for a guest post series, at least one that I’ve contributed to. {Not sure I belong in the ‘thinker’ camp.} But regardless, I’m excited to contribute and share a little of my story and my heart.

The other night as I was scanning through Twitter, I saw a friend post a 140-character excerpt from Jesus Calling. As many have experienced who have spent any time in the work of Sarah Young, I felt like the words were written from God just for me, just for this season that I’m walking in.

“Do not fear change, for I am making you a new creation, with old things passing away and new things continually on the horizon.

When you cling to old ways and sameness you resist My work within you. I want you to embrace all that I am doing in your life, finding your security in Me alone. ”

– Sarah Young, Jesus Calling, February 17 

Click here to read the rest of the post.  And be sure to leave a comment. We are going to send one lucky commenter a Project 7 gift pack with gum, mints, t-shirts and of course, COFFEE.

Happy Thursday friends!

Lately I have been oddly intrigued by the idea of liminal space.

Liminal space is a place where boundaries dissolve and we stand on a threshold, getting ourselves ready to move across the limits of what we were into what we are to becoming.

It seems like there should be a finite moment between here and there.

But it is quite impossible to pin down. With no clear beginning. And with no clear end.

Sometimes I lay in bed and try to decipher when the threshold first appeared. Was it when life in Nashville began to get alarmingly comfortable? Was it my first trip out to California when God began planting seeds of friendship? Was it the conversations at Q that made me start questioning my purpose and His plan? Was it the coaching group that forced me week-after-week to revisit my restlessness? Or was it this summer when I decided to pack up and head to California to work with Project 7? When exactly did I start transitioning?

And sometimes I lay in bed and try to decipher when the threshold will be crossed, when I will have “arrived.” Because although I am physically here, I still can’t begin fathom who I will become, or what life might look like, in this next chapter.

Yet these questions are futile.

Surely I will slip across this threshold one day. Just as surely as another threshold will appear.

“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.” ― Richard Rohr

Are you in a period of transition? Can you pin down when it began or when it might end?  

The Moving Edition

Tomorrow morning I get on an American Airlines flight and head to Orange County to begin my new adventure. I am thankful that I will be greeted by a few familiar faces, that I have found a lovely place to lay my head {once my bed and all my stuff make their way}, and that I have a job that is sure to keep me quite busy.

Here is a quick list of things I have learned as I work my way through this transition:

1. I am terrible at goodbyes. Terrible. For the last two weeks, I have struggled to be present with some of my closest friends, to not allow myself to be distracted by the impending cross-country move, and it has been immensely difficult. How do you say goodbye to friends and mentors who have supported and championed you along the way? How do you leave a church that renewed your faith? How do walk away from families who have loved on you when you weren’t in a place to love yourself? Words don’t suffice. Finally Sunday after church and lunch, I got in my car, turned up the radio, pulled out of town and began to process through everything I was thinking and feeling.

2. Emotions are complicated. When we sit down and start sorting through what we are really feeling, we realize that the joy is right there with the grief, and the hope is right there with the fear. We need to give ourselves some time and grace to untangle them so that each is given the proper acknowledgment.

3. The world we exist in will naturally evolve in our absence. I realized this after making my last big move four years ago. Until that time, I operated under the freakishly naive assumption that my previous life would exist for me to step back in to whenever it was convenient for me. Not the case. I will change. My friends will change. My world will change. My friendships will change. Their friendships will change. Their world will change. I will never be able to go back and step into the same exact role I have previously played. But I will always be able to go back and meet everyone where they are.

4. As much as we try to invision our future, we have no idea what God has in store for us. Remember in January when I wrote this, I had NO IDEA {not even an inkling} that God would be preparing me for a move where I would do life day-in-day-out with these friends. I don’t think I can say it better than I said it then.

As hard as I try, as creatively as dream, I can not even begin to imagine what God has in store for me tomorrow, next week, or next year.

I know that there will be strangers who become friends, and friends who will become strangers. I know that there will be sadness and joy, love and heartbreak, death and new life. But I can’t begin to imagine the possibility that is in store.

So, here’s to 2011 and to a God who is weaving together a beautiful story that is simply and wonderfully unfathomable!

5. Road trips are for indulgences. And the ultimate indulgence de jour is the Nutter Butter Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I know that this seems a little out of place here but if you takeaway anything from this post, takeaway this…you need to indulge in a Cool Treat next time you pass a DQ. Life is too short not to.

What have you been learning lately?

PS – See you tomorrow California. Nashville, I miss you already! Thank you for being so incredibly wonderful to me.

Gosh, sorry I haven’t written since the big news. I meant to, but time has sort of escaped me.

How have I been doing???

Well, I have been a tad overwhelmed.

The logistics of moving to California are far more complicated than I imagined.  Figuring out where to live and how to get my self, my belongings and my car from Nashville to Orange County has been pretty much all consuming. Not to mention the plotting of a lot difficult goodbyes.

And, for the better part of last week I was gripped with fear.

Can I really do this? What was I thinking? Moving to Southern California…the land of earthquakes and Real Housewives?  Who am I? Without Nashville, my friends, my church, and my dog? {Yeah, I came to the brutal decision to send Molly to reside in Texas with my parents than force her to accompany me as I get settled. Brutal.}

But…things are looking up.

I am feeling more cool, calm, and collected as the plan begins coming together. And I know this sounds corny and perhaps a little hyper-spiritual but Sunday as I sat in church I couldn’t miss the little confirmations, the gifts of reassurance, from God that this is the right move. And that I am not taking this leap alone.

From the gripping lyrics of Healer, “Nothing is impossible with You. You hold my world in Your hands.” To Pete Wilson’s poignant message about what being radically devoted to Christ looks like. To watching the waves crash on a rocky beach as Merlyn Catron sang, “Where you go, I’ll go. Where you stay, I’ll stay. When you move, I’ll move. I will follow you.” To the perfectly timed text message from Tyler Merrick nudging the Project 7 team to, “Look for His details in the tapestry of your life today and this week.”

He won’t let me endeavor to think I am taking this leap alone.

Praise. The. Lord.

Enough about me. Has He sent you any gifts of reassurance lately?

So a week from today is my last official day at Thomas Nelson. How crazy is that? It feels crazy, really crazy. And I am still sorting through my plethora of emotions…sadness, happiness, excitement, fear, optimism, and of course grief.

As I read through the emails, comments and twitter encouragement after my announcement, I was struck by how many people are feeling unsettled in their careers. I think part of that is a tension that we should always live in, after all this is not the place are destined for, this is not our eternal home. But I also think that there is a time to be bold, be courageous and follow our hearts. That there is a time when in fact God is nudging us to make a move.

Once I knew it was time for me to make a move, I began to process through what it might look like to leave well. Because the last thing I want to do is blow-up four years of hard-earned trust and respect. Here are a few things I am learning about leaving well:

1. Have an open and honest conversation with your employer. As soon as you have made a decision about leaving, have a discussion with your boss or HR executive about what it might like for you to leave well. (Now I know that this won’t work for everyone, but I have a feeling you would be surprised at how smoothly this conversation will go if you are open and honest with your employer.)

2. Make a transition plan. Outline current projects and ongoing responsibilities and create a plan to bring them to completion or find someone to oversee them until permanent replacement is found. Try to prevent anything from slipping through the proverbial cracks.

3. Stay in touch. Make it clear that you don’t want to leave them in a lurch. Leave  cell phone numbers and email addresses and encourage colleagues to use them as need arises. Because 9 times out of 10, need will arise.

Have you ever left a job? What other things did you do to ensure you left well?

I wrote the following post a year ago today. (One of my favorite things about blogging is how it becomes a living record of where you have been, what you have done, and what you felt.)

In some ways I am still struggling with this sense of unease. And in some ways I am finally seeing what God was doing in me.

I don’t know really what it is. But something is definitely going on with me.

Probably the best way to explain it is to say I just don’t feel like myself. I feel like a stranger in my own skin. Or more accurately, I don’t feel like I am the same girl that I was last year, last week, or even last night.

I am smack dab in the middle of a season of change.

I am experiencing the pains that are representative of growth, but I can’t quite see the changes in the mirror. What used to fit now feels strangely uncomfortable like last year’s skinny jeans but I haven’t figured out what alternations need to be made to embrace the transformed me.

So here I sit in limbo land, not comfortable living in the past and not sure what the future holds, yet feeling strangely encouraged. Encouraged because I am confident that my discomfort is a road sign reassuring my path; my trepidation is a herald of the extraordinary adventure that lies ahead; my anxiousness a reminder that I am fully living in the present.

And I refuse to be a hostage to my past or my future.

“And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” – 2 Corinthians 3:18 from The Message

Does any of this sound familiar to you? This kind of unfamiliar and scary, but exhilarating spell of change?

I knew I was going to have a crazy busy spring. In fact, a few months ago, I wrote that Spring was going “to send my calm, serene existence sailing.” But I had no idea just how depleted this season would leave me. I could have never have predicted that in the midst of back-to-back trips that I’d be struggling with flood clean-up and finding a new place to live. I didn’t know just how frenzied Spring could be.

Here we are on the cusp of a new season and I am in serious need of a reset. For the first time in my life, I am craving introspection and rest. Two things I typically avoid like a plague.

Here are 5 things I plan to do to rejuvenate.

I am going take a relaxing beach vacation. My last several  vacations have been fun, even rewarding, but not so much relaxing. On Wednesday, I am heading to the beach with a close friend, a ziplock full of sunblock, and a stack of books. I plan on doing some serious unwinding.

I am going to stay put. I have been traveling too much. For a season, I need to be in Nashville so I can recreate some healthy routines like exercising, cooking, serving at Cross Point, and enjoying time with close friends.

I am going to be more intentional about what opportunities I say “yes” to. I am one of those people who says “yes” to almost everything. Honestly, more often than not, saying “no” makes me feel guilty. But I am realizing that saying “no” allows me to say “yes” to something important down the road.

I am going to ask myself some hard questions. Over the last few months, I’ve realized that I don’t know myself as well as I’d like to. It’s time to do a little soul-searching. And hopefully I’ll uncover a handful of things that energize and inspire me.

I am going to blog more consistently. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, committing to post more, but I’ve discovered that blogging is therapeutic. It forces me to find time alone to process and to make sense of the thoughts spinning out-of-control in my brain.

Are you in need of rest? What do you do to rejuvenate yourself?

I don’t know really what it is. But something is definitely going on with me.

Probably the best way to explain it is to say I just don’t feel like myself. I feel like a stranger in my own skin. Or more accurately, I don’t feel like I am the same girl that I was last year, last week, or even last night.

I am smack dab in the middle of a season of change.

I am experiencing the pains that are representative of growth, but I can’t quite see the changes in the mirror. What used to fit now feels strangely uncomfortable like last year’s skinny jeans but I haven’t figured out what alternations need to be made to embrace the transformed me.

So here I sit in limbo land, not comfortable living in the past and not sure what the future holds, yet feeling strangely encouraged. Encouraged because I am confident that my discomfort is a road sign reassuring my path; my trepidation is a herald of the extraordinary adventure that lies ahead; my anxiousness a reminder that I am fully living in the present. (more…)

You know that cheesy song that Garth Brooks sang back in the early-199os, “Unanswered Prayers?” Well all I can say is that, it might be cheesy, but it is also dead on.

Seriously, dead on. Have you ever taken a moment to think about all the heartbreak that you have experienced? Heartbreak that was in fact a huge blessing in disguise? For some reason on my drive back from Birmingham, this is exactly what I was thinking about.

I came up with a long list full of unexpected “blessings.” Here’s a very short sampling -  job promotions deserved but not attained, relationships that ended too abruptly, loyalties betrayed. (more…)