The news this week is a bit ironic. A tropical depression is swirling up in the Gulf of Mexico and headed this way. The rain bands have already started. If you are not familiar with this weather pattern it means one minute you will have blue skies and white puffy clouds in the next minute a torrential downpour will occur. It comes and goes in waves or rather circles of intensity as the storm gets closer.
The reason this is amusing is that my book releases this week and the first chapter details a hurricane I was facing both outside my window and inside my own heart. It was the first time I ever said out loud:
Lord, I feel like I need to be amazing. The trouble is, I’m fresh out of amazing.
I wrote those words nearly five years ago. Little did I know we’d be here today, talking about a book you might be holding in your hand or thinking of buying. Back then, I thought I was the only one feeling that way. In fact, I tucked that phrase back down where it came from and mentioned it only a couple of times over the course of the next couple of years. Each time I did, God would lean in quietly and say, “Trust me with this. I have more here for your heart.”
And so he did. And so he still does.
“I think somewhere deep inside I wished that hurricane would go ahead and blow right through and take me with it. At that point it wouldn’t have taken much more than a gentle breeze to knock me over. I felt like a pile of dry, brittle bones that could easily be blown in every direction. I think the question swirling around my heart as the wind whipped up a mess outside sounded a lot like this: Can a fresh-out-of-amazing girl live through this?
In the days that followed, God literally and figuratively calmed the storm. the hurricane was downgraded, my girls’ school event was canceled, and my husband returned home. Over the next three years God did an extraordinary hope-filled work in my life. But it was only the beginning.
Have you ever noticed how questions tend to boomerang back into our lives if we don’t answer them soul-deep the first time? Recently, this nagging question—Can a fresh-out-of-amazing girl live through this?—came back around. God knows just the right time to have us revisit a lesson we need to learn in the worst way.” excerpt from Fresh Out of Amazing
I know it might sound funny, but just like the weather is on repeat, so is the question, “Can a fresh-out-of-amazing girl live through this?” I’m returning to words God wrote on my heart because I need to breathe them deep once again. I need a fresh work from him today as much as I did 5 years ago.
I don’t ever stop needing his mercy in my life. In fact, I think I need it more.
If you are feeling undone and done all at the same time, these words are for you. Maybe you are overwhelmed with all the things and what you really want is a friend to take you by the hand and tell you she understands. And if, you think your mess is just too much for anyone, especially Jesus, know I get it, I really do.
I wanted you to know that I’m praying for you. But, I’m also praying for me, too.
Dear Lord,
You tell us in your word, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
Today, I am praying this for the heart of your daughter. May she draw near to you and receive new mercy and grace in her fresh out of amazing place. Lord we know your heart is bent toward us with mercy. And as living water is poured out, so is your mercy every day. Let this be a reminder of the invitation she has to draw near every moment.
May she bring you her burdens and busyness.
May she lay down her shattered dreams.
May she honestly admit she is wooed by the curse of comparison.
May she pour out the lies her heart has been believing.
And may she cry with holy release the bitter tears her grieving heart has been storing up.
I know she wants to run and hide but my greatest prayer is that she will want to know the heart of the one who can give her heart exactly what it needs. Lord, may she step boldly to your throne with fearless confidence and hear you say, “Come. Be near the throne of grace. Be near me.”
And as she does, may she hear you singing a song of mercy over her heart:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
And when she is ready, may she join you in that mercy song.
Amen.
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xo,
Stacey
Thank you!