day twenty-nine
You Are
For wherever you go, I will go.
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
Ruth 1:16b
Tomorrow Jenn Discher and I are praying at the Lanier high school campus. It will be great to be there again; it's had me thinking about high school, about moving to Austin from our home in Springfield, IL.
I did not want to leave Springfield. I cried the entire trip to Austin. That's about 15 hours. I cried our first night in Austin at the hotel. I cried at Chi Chi's. (Hey - that was a happening restaurant in the Eighties.) I cried at Highland Mall, where my parents thought walking around Foley's would cheer me up. I didn't like our new house, our new neighborhood, the people in it...getting the picture? I hated Austin. I hated Lanier High School. When I saw the girls on the drill team with their major hot-rollered hair, I cut my hair short. I wanted to be different. I was angry girl.
After high school, I began to love Austin when I entered the college scene. For all the wrong reasons. I dreamt of moving to LA. After graduating from college, I got into the screenwriting program at UT, but dropped out when they ridiculed me for being a Christian. The truth of it was, I didn't know who I was.
But God always knew. And as my relationship with Him grew, so did my heart for Austin. His heart. I never wanted to be here. I always wanted to leave. Wanted to "make it" somewhere. But slowly He changed my heart to be like His.
I partly blame the city intercessors who my mom hangs out with. I remember coming home from high school and finding a few of these women in my house. "We've been praying for you," they would say, smiling. Full of love. "Great," I would say, and go into my room and close the door. My mom would ask from time to time if I wanted to go to a prayer meeting with her. No. Not really. I finally went and had to fight tears the whole time. Those intercessors. They slowly broke my resistance to prayer down. Now I am so grateful for them. Some of them have been praying for me, my family for over twenty years. It makes me cry to think about it. Truly.
The passage from Ruth is our wedding verse, and it's also one of my favorite verses to pray for Austin. Austin is my people. Austin will know God as the God of this city. He's doing it! I'm praying hard that you believe it.
But Zion said, "The LORD has
forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her nursing
child,
And not have compassion on the son
of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the
palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me."
Isaiah 49:16
For wherever you go, I will go.
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
Ruth 1:16b
Tomorrow Jenn Discher and I are praying at the Lanier high school campus. It will be great to be there again; it's had me thinking about high school, about moving to Austin from our home in Springfield, IL.
I did not want to leave Springfield. I cried the entire trip to Austin. That's about 15 hours. I cried our first night in Austin at the hotel. I cried at Chi Chi's. (Hey - that was a happening restaurant in the Eighties.) I cried at Highland Mall, where my parents thought walking around Foley's would cheer me up. I didn't like our new house, our new neighborhood, the people in it...getting the picture? I hated Austin. I hated Lanier High School. When I saw the girls on the drill team with their major hot-rollered hair, I cut my hair short. I wanted to be different. I was angry girl.
After high school, I began to love Austin when I entered the college scene. For all the wrong reasons. I dreamt of moving to LA. After graduating from college, I got into the screenwriting program at UT, but dropped out when they ridiculed me for being a Christian. The truth of it was, I didn't know who I was.
But God always knew. And as my relationship with Him grew, so did my heart for Austin. His heart. I never wanted to be here. I always wanted to leave. Wanted to "make it" somewhere. But slowly He changed my heart to be like His.
I partly blame the city intercessors who my mom hangs out with. I remember coming home from high school and finding a few of these women in my house. "We've been praying for you," they would say, smiling. Full of love. "Great," I would say, and go into my room and close the door. My mom would ask from time to time if I wanted to go to a prayer meeting with her. No. Not really. I finally went and had to fight tears the whole time. Those intercessors. They slowly broke my resistance to prayer down. Now I am so grateful for them. Some of them have been praying for me, my family for over twenty years. It makes me cry to think about it. Truly.
The passage from Ruth is our wedding verse, and it's also one of my favorite verses to pray for Austin. Austin is my people. Austin will know God as the God of this city. He's doing it! I'm praying hard that you believe it.
But Zion said, "The LORD has
forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.
Can a woman forget her nursing
child,
And not have compassion on the son
of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the
palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me."
Isaiah 49:16