I just love Taylor Swift. I do. Ever since I heard “Teadrops on my Guitar” nine years ago...I decided that she would be my celebrity best friend...everyone needs one after all, and like it or not, she’s mine.
After much consideration...and after watching a whole bunch of recent interviews with her (# sothatswhatmissionariesdoatnight), I have officially decided what it was about her that I love.
Taylor Swift is just...Taylor Swift.
In the midst of being probably one of the most talked about pop-stars of our generation (and I’m being generous with the term our...I’m still part of her generation...right? right?) Taylor has done a darn good job of being herself.
And the best part of being yourself, is, I believe, in doing so, you invite others to do the same.
One of my favourite Taylor songs is called “Innocent”...and one of the lines goes “32, and still growing’ up now...you’re still an innocent”.
How refreshing. How fitting.
When I listen to this song, I think of my own walk and struggle to finally get to the point where all I wanted was to be myself, fully and completely. I was 30 before I fully realized, that in fact, being yourself in front of God, is exactly what it means to walk by faith.
To trust that the person that I am RIGHT NOW, all my good AND all my ickyness with all my strengths and weaknesses, is exactly the girl that God is pursuing.
And the best part is...as soon as I admit that, and am real with my God, as soon as I stop pretending and STRIVING...it is then that He begins turning me into the girl He has created me to be.(I would say women, but I think I will forever feel weird about that...I am and forever will be...just a girl J)
When I decided to use this year to explore missions, I went in with two huge expectations. 1) God would work mightily in my life. 2) He would us me to help change the world.
But when I arrived, I began hearing variations of a few different phrases that left me kindda confused about my purpose over here.
“God doesn’t need you to save the world”...and “you don’t need to save Africa”.
Truth.
God does not NEED me to save the world, He covered that one on the cross.
He doesn’t NEED me to save Africa. Africa is doing just fine on its own.
But as far as Changing the World??
Well I actually know, in the depths of my soul, that that is in fact, exactly what He is inviting me to be a part of.
In fact... I believe that that is exactly what He is calling each of us to.
He wants me to love others in the way that He first loved me. He doesn’t NEED me to do that but He is inviting me to be a part of it....How wonderful.
The best part? He wants to use who I am, the Kimberley Anne of 2014, to do it.
The girl who loves to write, and loves adventures. The one who gets super-nervous talking to boys even at the age of 32. The one who absolutely loves cheesy chick flicks, and heartwarming stories. The one who right now is living in Kibera, Kenya, but pretty shortly will be headed back to Canada, (with a fun pit stop in London, England), to eat lots of yummy food, drink some pumpkin spice lattes, and spend time with friends. The one who struggles with anxiety, and at times is actually quite selfish.
That girl. He wants to use that girl.
I am also coming to understand...that Him changing the world, through each one of us...happens in the day to day.
It happens as I sit with a teenage girl and drink Fanta with her as she is on a study break from her big exams.
As you, busy stay-at-home moms, ferociously pursue the hearts of your children...and when you are laying in bed at night, exhausted, but committing them to prayer.
It happens when YOU, young teenage girl, sit beside the kid at school no one will talk to.
It happens when you, young woman in your early twenties, wrap your arms around your best friend, holding her close as she cries and cries over her broken heart.
I believe, with every part of me...that when we truly give ourselves permission to be ourselves, we begin the work of changing the world.
When we stop pretending...or faking it...we give permission for others to do the same.
And we finally leave room for God to work.
* Photocredit IMVDB