I love watching women deepen their journey with Jesus as they discover and then live into their purpose and passion. One friend in particular has had a beautiful journey. Judy and I met many years ago as young leaders with an international ministry. We took part in a leadership cohort and had an instant connection. A few years later we had the opportunity to be roommates and remain friends to this day.
To say we’ve both journeyed to find our “get-to” work is an understatement. Judy has been part of Women Doing Well since the early days and was even one of our first employees for a season, “on-loan” from Cru. Today, she remains a volunteer and advocate for women. Over the past couple of years Judy’s time has been more and more devoted to spiritual formation and she and her friend Beth recently launched a community for women and men in Atlanta and online to pull away and “Exhale.”
Today we share one of her blog entries as both an invitation to exhale and a celebration of a woman who is more and more living into purpose and passion and displaying the glory of our Lord as she does her work. We love you, Judy!
Just these two words He spoke
changed my life.
“Enjoy me.”
What a burden I thought I was to carry–
a crucifix, as did He.
Love once said to me, “I know a song,
would you like to hear it?”
And laughter came from every brick in the street
and from every pore in the sky.
After a night of prayer,
He changed my life when He sang,
“Enjoy me”
Teresa of Avila
At the heart of the universe is a circle of love. A relationship of ever giving and receiving, moving in and out of one another without defense or demand. Interpenetration even. What a sexy word! I’m speaking, of course, of the Trinity. As my study and experience of this dynamic and abundant love affair grew, the center of the Christian story began to shift.
Beforehand, a sin-as-the-center of the story swirled about my narrative all the time: Why God was mad. Why Jesus came and died. How I manage my and others’ offenses. Sin as the hub. Living from that story was exhausting and filled with shame.
I exist to love and be loved by the Trinity. With relationship at the heart, I sensed an invitation to freedom, creativity, and abundance. No longer was I on a “sin hunt,” forever demoralized by my own failures. Instead, I am on a “love hunt”—how can I keep step with this beautiful, dancing circle of affection and delight?
Does this mean I’m soft on sin? Resoundingly no! I have tasted and seen its devastation. I rely by faith on the Son of God (Galatians 5:20). By shifting my gaze from missing the mark to experiencing their presence expands my soul. Somehow my longing for the Trinity’s presence also dissuades me from sin. What a magnificent mystery!
What would happen if you shifted your gaze from your sin to the soft embrace of the Trinity?
