dear me.

Dear Eighth-Grade Me,

You've just been told you're getting a superlative in the yearbook. 

For Shortest. 

Your picture in the yearbook?

You'll take shortest. 

Any. Day.

You were told just minutes ago they're taking your picture. 

Today. 

Like now. 

Hello, sweatpants. 

Oh well. :)

Anyhow, you? Ummm…me?

Could I let you in on a couple of things?

Could I give you a little perspective 

on your present and your future?

Here we go…

That classmate who taught you 

how to use eyeliner in the middle of science class?

It was totally a "teach a man to fish" moment.

A life skill was learned.

You should have asked her to teach you how to line your upper lids, too.

It's a feat that will still escape you at age forty-one.

So next year?

Your parents will tell you the family's moving. 

From Northern Virginia to Maryland.

To Howard County.

And there are horses across the street from your new house. 

Yes, it's the country. Kind of. 

You will try everything you can to not have to move 

(like any of that was gonna work anyhow). 

But the move that will ache at the time?

It will be one of the best things that ever happened to you.

The bully you've had this year?

The one who made you doubt and question and cry?

She also made you realize that you're strong.

That you're resourceful.

And that sometimes all you need to do is ask for help.

She also taught you to be aware of how you treat others

and how to relate to kids who are being bullied.

See the silver lining?

So your mom?

All the hours she volunteers in the Children's Ministry at church?

How you and your little sister and your mom 

are always three of the last four people to leave the building?

~Pastor Wyatt was the fourth~

Those Sundays will impact you far more than you realize. 

All those times you've waited and watched your mom label 

puzzles with black Sharpie markers?

One day, you'll label puzzles, too.

You're learning that kids are important to God.

You're also learning 

that you love Nilla Wafers and Play-Doh. 

This is important, too.

One morning recently, your Sunday School teacher 

taught you and your friends 

about thanking God when you pray.

You had never thought about that before. 

Prayer isn't all about listing off your wishes.

It's about thanking the Wish-Granter 

for all that He's done. 

That one Sunday morning will 

change your perspective on prayer for good. 

So those boys you've had a crush on this year?

Yeah, the ones who didn't like you back.

Augh.

Just a few days after moving to Maryland

~the move you didn't want to make~

you'll be introduced to a boy with beautiful blue eyes. 

And all those silly boys won't be able to hold a candle to him.

And six years later, 

you'll marry him.

See how important your family's move was?

Dear Me,

Each step,

each moment,

each adventure 

is a gift given by God.

Today?

Let's walk another leg of the journey…

one we may not understand at the time…

trusting that God has 

everything

all

figured 

out.

I don’t think the way you think.
    The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
        God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
    so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
    and the way I think is beyond the way you think.
Just as rain and snow descend from the skies
    and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth,
Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,
    producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,
So will the words that come out of my mouth
    not come back empty-handed.
They’ll do the work I sent them to do,
    they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

~Isaiah 55:8-11

Many blessings,

Deni