Feeling Isolated or Lonely?

When I was in my 20's over a decade ago I was a student at Youth With A Mission in Arvada, CO. I left Georgia and took my first flight across the country, on what would be one of the greatest experiences in my life to date. I started my 5 month Discipleship Training School in Jan. 1998. It was so exciting and challenging and I relished in the friendships I made. I'm an only child and so for me I felt like I was surround by people who would be like my family forever... and many have been. It was so great to have these amazing people in my life. We walked through really deep and personal heart matters together, and even conflict resolution at times. We were very close and I thought that I had finally arrived at place of friendship utopia! Ha! I finished that school in the spring and knew that I really wanted to come back to attend a leadership school called Phase 2 that fall. Almost all of my friends ended up going to Phase 2 as well. I was thrilled at the thought of another 3 months together. Well, after a few weeks I noticed that the feelings of closeness were not what they had been, almost as if something were off. I started to evaluate each friendship to see if I could pin point what had changed. We all loved each other dearly and we were still praying together, talking daily, but our worlds felt fragmented. I began to bring it up causally to see what the others thought. Many others were experiencing the same feelings. We weren't struggling with each other but it seemed like for no explainable reason and no lack of trying, we were in seasons of "isolation". I began to pray and ask God what was up with that! I went through my mental/spiritual checklist; "was I where God wanted me, was I missing something, had I offended someone without knowing?". I suddenly felt an answer swept over me in a powerfully tangible way. God spoke to my heart and said,"I'm pulling you away for a season, there's so much I want to show you and you don't need these distractions right now". I knew that was it! That's why we all felt it! We were in a new season marked by God for intimacy. I had felt this restlessness so many times in my life and rejected it. I forced myself into relationships and situations that proved to be destructive and frustrated. Sometimes they brought the crazy girl out of me... you know the crazy girl whose insecurity makes relationships messy. Now in this season of growth and maturing God had so sweetly lured me by His love and spoken His intention. It was a seasoned marked by heaven to show me the love and faithfulness of the Father. I could reject it and miss what would prove one of the most strategic seasons in my life, or I could trust God and embrace it. Thank God I had enough trust to do the latter. Okay, so why this story today? It's more obvious than ever that people are lonely, feel rejected, and social media is great at exposing the messiness we feel. In fact it's been a great tool for the enemy, our flesh and others to expose the foolishness we can sometimes let out. I want to give every lonely heart a challenge. I want to ask you to surrender to this season. I don't even feel like you have to figure out the "why's" right now. Lonely isolated times always call for time with Jesus. He is there! No matter if you feel it's a seasoned marked by God, you've behaved in a way others have given you space to grow up, you've been hurt so you are keeping your heart guarded, or it's a new season and you're establishing new roots, God is there in your quiet and there is love and wisdom to be had. He's better than a book about someone else's epiphanies (not that there's anything wrong with that sometimes). He's got something fresh, unique, and life giving just for you. If you soak up this season I promise God's supply of relationships and restoration is ample. So we can stop laboring over our emotions of rejection, and all the "who's" who aren't meeting our needs and wait for God to reveal Himself and teach us who we are to be. When we are who God is establishing, then we are irresistible! Be intentional TODAY! Love you all- Joy

We have to get it right!

Somethings we have got to get right or we will miss it! Too many hours, days, weeks, months and God help us years are so often wasted because we failed to evaluate our spiritual vision. It's like needing glasses because we are vision impaired but instead we just live life bumping into walls, straining, and missing our turns because we can't see the road signs. Spiritually we can be pursuing God and desiring to serve Him but our lack of spiritual discipline and surrender will cause us to filter life, church and relationships carnally. I so often remind my kids about the shuttle "Challenger". The building of this shuttle was massive and brilliant engineers and technicians spent considerable amounts of time on the construction of it. Everything was in order... hundreds of thousands of pieces all set right. The day came for lift off and America watched in awe as the shuttle lifted and as it shot through the sky we all saw the devastating explosion that killed the team of astronauts. It scarred the hearts of many and brought grief to their families and friends and many of us who saw it that day. Everything was right about that day and yet one tiny detail was off. A small tiny O-ring caused NASA to lose it's team and the mission stalled for a long while. Our filters work likewise. We can be doing 99% of the right thing but if we aren't letting God's word and principles be our filter then we can see devastating consequence and have a major mission delay or fail in our lives. Many people full of giftings and anointing have let carnal filters ruin the fullness God intended for them. God is truth and what we would choose so many times looks different from His plan but we can trust that God's ways are higher... in fact perfect. We can fight against that or surrender to that but we cannot change it.

The Journey

I'm so excited to be married to Reagan and being a mom to the funniest, smartest, and most dynamic children on earth;-). Sorry I'm a little bias. Reagan and I have had a long journey through many unexpected places. We met in Denver at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and we made it through a really bumpy and yet God ordained courtship. We married and moved to Georgia and almost immediately had "little Sommers". Taylor our oldest was dedicated at 2 weeks old on our 1 year anniversary. We held a pattern of popping out babies every couple of years until my son, Noah was born in 2006. We have 3 children Taylor, McKenzie, and Noah. I love them and in the middle of marriage and babies are the details of our life that played significant roles in who we are and how we know and serve God. Reagan had a radical face to face with the Lord late in His teens. He grew up in a small town and whether it was lack of teaching or lack of seeking he had missed the value of the Gospel until that time of His life. It was then he decided to delve into the Bible and see if there was more to Jesus than what he had known, there his world was rocked and he was forever changed. I'm an only child. I can't remember getting "saved" but I do remember growing up in church. I went to sunday school and during revivals I'd lay in my Nanny's lap and she's rub my head as I dosed and caught bits and pieces of sermons. My mom made sure I was at church and she would encourage me to trust God and in many things and I did. As many others have before me, as kid I experienced my parents divorce and suffered many fears about who I was. When I was 13 years old I remember having a significant experience with the Lord that changed my inward makeup. I began to face fear and find more and more identity in Christ. There are many chapters in both of our lives that built us and waves that crashed against us, knocking us over a little here and there. I wish my story was a bit more perfect and Reagan would admit the same I'm sure. When we met we were two fairly solid young people with huge God dreams. When we found ourselves at YWAM-Denver and we loved every minute of it. Reagan's conversion had made his passion for world missions stoked as he had always been tender concerning God's heart for the lost. For me I loved prayer and people and I felt a strong pull toward intercession for the lost and broken. It's funny because right now as I write this I see that our spiritual "DNA" is still at our very center of who we are. We were very confident in ourselves, our abilities and "our" vision. We when got married God spoke to us to leave Denver and in our minds we thought we'd take a short pause and return to ministry. We move to Georgia in 2000 and by Sept. 2001 my daughter was born and God wasn't very vocal in terms of our movement and/or location. Reagan had returned to his pre-YWAM profession of construction, a job that he dreaded quite honestly. We plugged along for a couple of years realizing all the while emotionally we had to settle and put down roots until God told us to move. When God finally did speak it wasn't necessarily what we wanted to hear. He said business was our ministry and we had to step it up and think big business. WOW! The minute God spoke we knew in our hearts we heard right and yet that would begin a "new" and unexpected season. This era of life was met with grief over our desire to serve God in the particular way we felt God was leading us. On top of grief was inexperience in business and a miscarriage that left it's mark on my faith that I would carry for a few years. This life was not what we had ordered but we threw ourselves into God and we trusted Him for the grace to live this plan and flourish in it. For 10 years we constructed homes and remodeled houses. We gave to missions and our prayer was "Lord, if we can't go or serve you the way we planned, then we are serving here and giving every resource and ounce of time till we see your kingdom come and your will done in our life." Our family became a team. We included our kids and we planted them in New Hope. We have seen them pray, serve the church and find who they are in Christ in the house of God. So here we are 10 years later and wouldn't you know it, God speaks to us and says, "It's a new season and you have a new mission." In January in a subtle and stirring way God is giving us the gift of serving in a leadership role. We are now serving The City Young Adult Ministry at New Hope. I laugh at our youthful arrogance and immature zeal 10 years ago. We're asking the Lord for wisdom when we feel inadequate and we are asking for anointing because we know without it we will certainly crash and burn. Our children are asking how they can be part of this and we are letting them as much as is reasonable. I could write about The City and how excited we are as God is speaking clearly and giving specific instructions. I could tell you that this is a God dream come true but it's not a smooth or easy process. This is what I can tell you about God as I live and learn who He is. He never changes His mind concerning you. He doesn't work on a time table that resembles ours or build us like we would prefer. He isn't consumed with our happiness but gives us joy in dark places. God allows life and the enemy to shake us and though pain is involved, He won't allow the enemy to brake us. When circumstances are out of control if we react with faith and generosity of heart, He will overwhelm us with understanding and peace. The placement of God may be ever-changing locationally but the move of God in our life is sustaining. Offer all of you to God and you have nothing to fear but offer less and those pockets of life will be full of fear and contention. I still get scared, I fail, I'm not always the wife, mother, or friend I wish I were. I'm not always the daughter of God I want to be. I'm awkward, fall into temptations that I shouldn't and I'm not always fair. Here's the anchor and the hope I have...He who started this good work in me is faithful to take it to completed places! Whatever or wherever you are my challenge is this, filter your life through your identity with Christ. We are to be like Christ. When we filter who we are, our responses, and our future on that we are rock solid. When we filter through our fear, reasoning, and wisdom we will live in the same reality with a extremely different outlook. Filters we all have em!