my tipsy twenties

Darn near thirty…. I have heard this phrase and have used this phrase several times over the past year. For those of you who don’t know, I am indeed darn near thirty. In fact, twenty-nine to be exact. So I guess you could say that I have done a wee-bit of thinking and contemplating over my twenties as a whole as I soak in this chapter. Come reminisce  with me my tipsiness…

I remember the day that I turned 20. I was a sophomore in college. Great roommates, boyfriend, friends, and big improvement on my grades, all attributed to getting my freshman year out of my system and actually starting to take my life seriously. I was more adjusted and settled into the college groove as I devoted my time to studying, even though my grades reflected someone who didn’t care about their academics. But that is absolutely not the case with me. I legitimately tried my hardest. Paid off tutors. Gave up part of my social life. Skipped meals. Developed majorly poor eating habits in the process all because I wanted to measure up to my older brother who literally could walk in the day of his chemistry final and ace the junk out of it. On the other hand, I would study for hours on end by highlighting major points, making up note cards for memorizing, and saying my prayers before bed believing that God would bless my efforts by giving me at least a “C” on the test. Even with my tutors, parents, and friends cheering me on, I would get the test back with a whopping, fat, red and capital “F” on the top of the test. With extreme insecurity, I would flip the test back over and put it under my notebook for no one to see. I would look around to see and hear my classmates vent over the one or two questions they got wrong and fought back the tears that were stuck in my throat. Test after test, class after class, failure after failure. Test anxiety is a real thing, and I exhibited it at its finest. Age 20, everyone. My struggles were insecurity and comparison for sure.

I remember when I turned 22. I literally had my life planned out. I was eager to get engaged to my hilarious, talented, god-fearing boyfriend whom I was love struck with at first sight, maybe even before I actually met him in person if I am 100% honest with you. I was excited to land my first job in my teaching career. I retook the ACT to get a qualifying score to simply stay in my major, and by God’s grace, obtained the score needed to and walk on graduation day. My plans were working out great. “My” being the key word. I was trying to fit God in the tiny little box labeled “Janelle’s Happy Ending”. Little did I know that my plans would be thoroughly wrecked in the blink of an eye. The dream of me and my littles waiting by the window to see their daddy pull up in the driveway and running out to smother him with kisses at the end of a long work day quickly vanished as Jordan pulled up in his car in front of my dorm and said to me the words that are forever in my heart, “Janelle, I just can’t do ‘us’ anymore. Something’s not right, and I can’t pinpoint it.” Just like that, I was left with a broken heart, and I literally felt like everyone could read the word “Reject” on my forehead as I crumbled and cried in the corner. I was hurt beyond words as the life we dreamt of and were moving towards was suddenly ripped from underneath me. As these circumstances continued to shake the ground I walked on, I closed the chapter of college on an ugly, bitter and discontent note of what my life should have looked like upon graduation. Age 22, still insecurity, low self-worth, and depression began settling in.

Turning 25, quarter of a century, was a highlight year for me. Being a special education teacher has it’s own set of problems that we encounter. I feel like this was one of the hardest years of my career professionally; however, during this year I developed some of the most special, long-lasting friendships whom I hold very near and dear to my heart. These are those friendships that have lasted over the years. We’ve seen each other at our worst and still couldn’t imagine life without each other. I was involved to an intense measure in a college and 20’s ministry downtown Greenville, and it was there that God ripped all legalism (and continuing to do so) out of my mindset. I learned who God was and it pushed me to walk in His ways. At this point I was still single, wondering if God was going to bless me with a man who loves and pursues God so much and in turn does the same for me. I would say my mid-twenties was filled with the desire and longing to be loved, to be known, and to be chosen. I really struggled with understanding how to find my true contentment in God and shifting my perspective to building God’s kingdom and not my own. This season definitely had me shopping for bridesmaids dresses and attending more weddings than I can count which always kept me wondering when it would be my turn. I would leave these ceremonies in tears for a couple of reasons.

 

1. I was really darn happy for the couple and
2. I felt like I was wasting away, and God was holding out on my from my happy ending that I have always desired and wanted.

 

After dating wrong guy after wrong guy with no prediction of their disrespect and manipulation of me, I kept wondering what I am doing wrong and why does this keep happening to me.

Age 25, continued insecurity, low self-worth, depression, and comparison. So I naturally bought a dog. OOOF. I literally won the jackpot with Milo. Literally the best dog in the world. You may beg to differ because we are all partial to our own pets, or essentially our kids, but I would definitely fight you on this one and 100% win. So yeah, there’s that.

As I neared twenty-six or twenty-seven (I couldn’t actually tell you when because I have one of THE worst memories in the world- true story – people call me Dory), God began doing a stirring in my heart. I felt that God was calling me out of my “normal” to do something different. To this day, I cannot describe what was taking place in my heart. I just remember starting to feel withdrawn in the circles that God had placed me in. I remember sitting on my front porch with dearly loved friends with tears running down our faces, telling them that God is calling me out and I have no idea where he is leading me. It was one of the hardest conversations we had, but I still knew that there is a calling the Lord has for me and it just wasn’t at my current location. And sure enough, just like that, God provided a job in Wisconsin near my parents house. Just like that, I packed up my car, left my heart with some of my favorite people in Greenville, SC, and began the 13-hour long trip home. My twenty-seven year old self struggled with proving to the world her calling, that she was hearing from the Lord rightly, and still, experiencing lies of insecurity in who she was in the Lord.

And here we are! Twenty-nine! Twenty-nine has sure brought a lot of changes and disappointments for sure. I landed a job in Wisconsin in hopes to make it my next ten years. Again, putting God in the “Janelle’s Happy Ending” box. With this job came a lot of tears, frustrations, wounds and devalued me as a person. Fear was used to elicit more production out of me when I was already at the end of my rope and begged for support. I was devalued by my administrator as he listened to unfiltered gossip and faulted me with untruth. I lost trust in that relationship as these tactics were a means to an end of unethically pushing me out of the environment. I lost all passions to be relational and communicative. Unknowingly, I began to shut down, close off and retreat. I slipped into unhealthy eating patterns and dealt with anxiety and depression after I took off my mask when I left school at the end of the day. I was just scraping by until the end of the year not even realizing or maybe acknowledging the hurt so that I could essentially deal with it head-on. On top of that, I began dating someone who threw it all away and cheated on me. Completely blind-sighted and wrecked, I felt as if I would never recover. And if it couldn’t get any worse, I had to go to the emergency room for a virus I had contracted,  and I accrued close to $5,000 for out-of-pocket bills. Awesome. BUT… yes there is a but here, I will say this. God has brought me through it all and has engraved such a deep faith that I have never experienced before. A faith that is genuine, holding my hands open to him saying, “Anything, God”. A faith that I can honestly hold fast to and believe that God will provide for me and meet my every need. I am starting to believe and truly accept that “Janelle’s Happy Ending” does not look like it did back when I was twenty-two. I am currently single, living back at home with my parents awaiting to embark on a new adventure with God. Also, a couple of years ago, He placed a desire in my heart to foster and eventually adopt. Because I have had the desire to do so for a while now and these desires only intensify,  I will be taking steps towards getting certified as a foster mom by the end of this year. I desire to see racial reconciliation, and I am currently stepping out by reading and learning how these differences impact people’s lives. I desire to support single mothers in their process by coming alongside of them and caring for them, practically and spiritually. For those of you who have been walking through these passions and desires with me, it is to you I am forever grateful for. I am terrified of this calling, but thankfully I know a God who is put in us a love that casts out all fears. 

The other day I was on Instagram scrolling through, and I came to a post from Bob Goff. It said, “In the wait time, God gives you friends.” TRUTH. PRAISE HANDS. CHURCH. If there is one thing that I choose to see as I look back over my twenties, it’s not the fact that I had trials and was placed in some intense and upsetting situations; rather, I choose to see that God blessed me with people so I didn’t have to go through any part of it alone. I ALWAYS had people around me who chose to walk through this ugly thing called “life” together.

When I was younger, and about every year on my birthday, I believed that I will become stronger and figure out my calling on my life and really kick these struggles in the butt and kiss them goodbye. And I stand before you today to tell you that I am darn near thirty, still trying to figure it out. I have no clue what I am doing and okay with that. I feel that one day I will become braver and say “yes” to the one thing I am afraid of. We are all in this together. Sure, we have life experiences that cultivate us into who we are today, but that doesn’t mean we have it all figured out more than the next guy. I think of Joseph in the Bible. He had no clue how God was going to use him someday in a big way for just being faithful in the little. Little did he know that “what man meant for evil, God meant for good.” Maybe you are like Joseph in the story. You don’t know what your happy ending is. A friend said to me the other day that “God is asking us to open our hands up so that we can receive what He wants to give us and grasp onto something new.”The thing is, when Jesus is in it, he will see to it that peace will be enveloping you in the process, and the enemy will fight it hard to plant fears in you to scare you out of your calling. Let’s learn together how to stop comparing ourselves to others. God has created each of us to walk different paths. Be confident in and true to yourself, what YOUR desires are and not living out your friend’s. Run the race that God has called YOU to run and run it well. Just like Joseph, and just like the Father did with His own Son, He sees us through.

“ He sees me through like before. He is Lord.”  – Elevation Worship

 

open sunroofs

So I am going to share one of those not-so-smart-janelle-ism’s that happened the other day for me. A couple of days ago, I got a massage for the first time ever in my life. Mainly because I got a gift card (I am too cheap to actually treat myself in that way). I had no idea what to expect as I walked through the glass doors that took me into a swanky spa, a place I should but do not get to see very often. When I approached the front desk and gave her my name for the appointment set up, she then proceeded to lead me up the spiral staircase.

I am so rich, I thought.

When the massage was over, I gathered my things together, got into my car, opened the sunroof and windows and began my drive home, blaring country tunes, because that is what you do in the summertime. Because of being extremely relaxed and not really all there, I turned off my car before the sunroof was completely closed. First mistake. I got out of my car, grabbed my things and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon reading and drinking my La Croix on the front porch swing. Around 7:00 that evening, dark clouds started quickly moving towards me. Because I have a thing for storms, you can always catch me staring at the sky waiting for slow drops of rain to begin flowing down in sheets. I love rain. I love lightning. I love thunder. Even more so, if I have the option of sitting on the porch allowing my senses to kick in and take over, I could sit in the midst of a rainstorm until it ends. There is something just so mesmerizing and beautiful about it all, even somewhat of a thrill.

As it neared time for bed, I cracked my windows so I can hear it roll on through as I closed my eyes and drifted off. Dear Journal, what a relaxing day. I closed a chapter of life by stopping by school and turning in my keys. I got a massage for the first time. Again, feel so rich. And I feel like now I can fall asleep with nothing on my mind. Today was a refreshing and a much-needed kind of day.

The next morning, I woke and did my usual morning routine. Lay in bed for about ten minutes while checking my phone, slowly get moving by saying “Good Morning” to my dog Milo, and head downstairs to make coffee. Without coffee, you’re going to have to give me at least an hour to come to life, so naturally, coffee speeds up the process a bit. And I mean, of course it’s my favorite smell and taste in the world. After I filled up my cup, I grabbed my journal, pen and mug and went out to the front porch swing to enjoy the slow sunny morning filled with the humidity and fresh smell of nourishment that the rain brought. As I scanned the front yard, my eyes shifted towards my car, and to my dismay, I noticed the sunroof guard of my car up.

No.  No.   You have GOT to be kidding me. There is no way the sunroof is open. I swear I closed it. Shoot. How did this happen.  Slow blink. Still open. What.

Also me, all of these thoughts were running through my mind as I stopped myself from happily swinging on the porch swing, staring at my car. Just staring. Sure enough. As I walked over to my car the sunroof was indeed open and I had about an inch of water sitting in my cup holders.

Awesome. My life. Praise hands. High-five, Janelle.

What I thought was going to be a slow, relaxing morning, turned into me frantically grabbing the dehumidifier from the basement and researching/texting friends to gain insight on how to dry out your soaked car. Roll my eyes. That night, I laid in bed with my journal reflecting back on the past couple days and how significantly different my response was to the situations that panned out, obviously. Life changes, and in most times, we aren’t prepared for nor expecting the change that is to come.

This passed year, I decided to begin preparing for a change in my life by leaving my current teaching job. The experiences and skills obtained for the duration of my time there are invaluable as I am now entering into the process of discovering God’s calling on my life, one day, one decision, at a time. As we undergo the many changes in our lives, it is a sweet reminder that Jesus is holding our hands, going before us, and making a way to plant his desires within us, even if we’re human and make silly mistakes, like leaving the sunroof open during a torrential downpour. We can always remember that even when we can’t see what is on the other side of the decisions we make, the changes that occur, or the upsetting trials that hit us without warning, God is still good and we still have him. Even when I get a phone call telling me a loved one has passed, He is making a way. Even when the adoption process falls through and we have to pursue another option, he is making a way. Even when I step out on faith by quitting my job without having another, he is making a way. Even when your family simply cannot communicate effectively with each other, he is making a way. Even when you have done everything, and still can’t get pregnant, he is making a way. Even when I am diagnosed with a terminal illness, he is making a way. Even when my bank account is low and not sure where the next paycheck will come from, he is making a way. 

One thing remains is that when life makes shifts, we have a hope in our Heavenly Father, sweetly lifting our chins, reminding us we are not from here. He says that in this world we will have heartache, but that we can take heart. He has overcome.

light in the darkness

I have most recently began practicing yoga again after taking a season off. I will most certainly say that yoga has been a lifesaver for me. I never actually realized how good it was for my emotional and physical well being until I get into child’s pose and come to center on my mat. For those of you yogis out there, you know exactly what I am talking about. For those of you who don’t practice yoga, there is a phrase I go by:  “Because you can, you should.”

Anyways, back to sharing my most recent yoga practice experience with you.

I come into class and the instructor asked each of us to set an intention for our practice. This intention can be a word, phrase, or sometimes for me, a verse. I chose the word “endurance”. These intentions really motivate you when your practice gets harder throughout the session. I found this word, more often than not, come into my thoughts as I was struggling to hold certain poses, and yes, even falling down during one of them because I had zero ability to balance on one leg. Go ahead and laugh. I did.

I got back up and kept going. My favorite part is when I am able to stretch and breathe deeper when holding each pose. I truly felt like an amateur as I have been out of the game for quite a bit of time and have lost all flexibility and strength, especially when I look around and people are flying their crows and posing in a half moon for lengthy periods of time (sorry-yoga jargon). Of course as I immediately start to compare my practice to the experienced yogis around me, I constantly catch my thoughts and bring them back to the fact that today, I have decided to at least show up to class.

As my practice concluded, I laid on my back with both arms stretched out to the side, palms up. I arranged my body so that all my muscles were 100% relaxed. The instructor dimmed the lights, and provided time for us to conclude our practice with quiet meditation. I LOVE the fact that when I laid there, I felt time was actually on my side in that moment, and it wasn’t against me, creating stress and major “rush” in my life. Time actually forced me to lay there, to be still before Father, and listen to what He had to say to me in that moment.  Anytime I sit in carved out quiet time, Father never ceases to stop talking to me. Recently, I heard on a podcast that “God is always talking to us, we just don’t take the time to listen or recognize his voice”. So there I laid. Centering myself on the mat.

I opened my eyes, even though I probably shouldn’t have because that wasn’t fully relaxing myself. My eyes became fixated on the light above me. My eyes soon adjusted to the light, similar to when I was a little girl seeing how long I could stare at the sun on a hot summer day. I know, so stupid. When I was no longer squinting at the light, my eyes scanned the other parts of the ceiling, unable to see as my eyes were slowly adjusting back to the darkness. It took a good portion of time for my eyes to not see spots from the light as I scanned the ceiling and other areas of the room.

That’s when He spoke to me.

“Do you see me? I am everywhere. You need to stay CLOSE to me to begin seeing more of me.”

When my eyes trickled away from the light, I was able to see the light for a short time frame after, and eventually, my eyes adjusted back to the darkness.

I feel that is exactly how it is with our walk with Father. It’s only human for our eyes to be able to see in the darkness; however, when we spend significant time with Father, our Beloved, we become so deeply rooted and fixated on Him, our light, that we are unable to see the darkness around us. As long as we are on Earth, living out our day-to-day routines, we will experience the weight of sin in this world. Maybe your darkness is your character is being ripped to shreds that you worked so hard to keep and maintain. Maybe your darkness is your job where you have given away your boundaries and allowed your boss and coworkers to walk all over you. Maybe your darkness is rejection from a dating relationship. Maybe your darkness is struggling through school, wondering if you chose the right program that will determine the course of your life. Maybe your darkness is going off birth control for months, even years, and still not being able to get pregnant. Maybe your darkness is your spouse is choosing pornography or another’s love over you. Maybe your darkness is unresolved conflict and hurt in the relationship with your earthly father. Maybe your darkness is fear of the unknown and what your “next steps” will be.

No matter what your “dark cloud” is, God is talking with you and wanting you to stay close to Him. He wants you to come sit with Him in the quiet, free of the distractions of this world. He wants more than anything for your eyes to be fixated on HIS eyes, and His presence only, so that when you go about your day, you see the Light’s spots everywhere you look. 

When our eyes are on the Light, the Light is all we’ll see.

Psalm 139:7-12

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day Darkness and light are alike to You.”

I asked myself these couple questions after the yoga session that day:

• What am I currently allowing in my life that is preventing me from staying close and spending time with Father?
• What am I actively doing to pursue my relationship with Father, first and foremost?
• How am I combatting lies of the enemy, and not allowing these lies to be a stronghold in my thoughts and life?

Please give me some feedback and/or future topics you would like me to touch on. Thanks for taking the time to read this today!

Remember how much He loves you today,

Janelle

your house.

      

“We walk into houses that are not ours. Then, when the concrete shifts, that house of cards tumbles to the ground. But God. God rebuilds a house. This  house has your name on it, and He awaits you walking through the front door and owning the process. Owning what He has built for you.”   Cheryl Wood

 Life is given to us by God. It is a gift and is very precious. However, when going through trials of various kinds, our hearts only yearn that much more for the King’s return. In the meantime, He is asking for our whole – every aspect of what makes us who we are. He desires that we accept His sanctifying of our whole completely –spirit, soul and body. (2 Thess. 5:23) God is preforming a work in us and will preform it until Christ returns. I believe there is a reason God specifically ordered those three aspects of life in a human and how it relates to cultivating and experiencing true joy amidst a trial.

First up is the spirit. This is the absolute core of who we are. In Genesis 2:7, it states that, “[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” He created us with five different senses which enabled us to interact fully with the intricately created world around us. Second up is the soul (and mind) where we are able to manage our emotions and our thinking patterns. Last up is the body and taking care of what we have been given which includes the following: choosing to be physically active, eating well, obtaining enough rest, and being free of any addictions.

This past weekend, He gave me the gracious gift of going away to a cabin in Asheville, NC for a short trip with some of my dearest sisters in Christ. This was a refreshing time away from all the busy and stress that life throws at us. We were able to completely remove ourselves from situations back home and just focus on each other, His beautiful handiwork, but most importantly, resting and being still in His presence. I am sure God was smiling down on us as we were like kids in a candy shop as we saw His glory manifest in front of us.

A specific experience that stood out to me from the trip was when we all hiked up the mountain to the lookout at the top. There were five of us girls and we all had different stopping points so we could catch our breath, especially being at a higher elevation. We would then wait on and with each other, converse, laugh, trip and fall, and even help each other through different parts of the hike. All that to say, we FINALLY made it to the top and BOY was it worth it. This got me thinking about life (of course). It is a process. Sanctification is a process. But God, being our Father knows what is best for us, and He is changing us from the inside out –spirit, soul, and body. He is not just telling us to fend for ourselves when we are in the middle of a crisis. He is actually so good that He provides strength through His people around us. On a human level, it is so easy to tell someone who is in a difficult circumstance to change, move or “hike” faster because we see what is better. But God knows what is BEST for us and that means that we need to appreciate the sanctification process he is bringing us through and enjoy every little aspect along the way so that we learn more about the rhythm of His heart. He begins changing our spirit, then our soul, and will indefinitely be displayed through our physical actions of how we take care of ourselves and live God out loud.

He has created us in His image and will continue chipping away on us what does not look like Himself. That is a process and it requires patience. Remember to stop living in someone’s house. Rather, walk through the front door of the house that God has designed FOR YOU. Enjoy it. Embrace it. Patiently wait for God to genuinely change you from the inside out. Choose joy for yourself.

Romans 8:24-25 “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

   

   

(Pictures taken in Asheville, NC.)

Resources:
Blue Letter Bible Commentary