Kaitlyn – Page 8 – Thoughts from Blue Eyes

About Kaitlyn

Hi. As a follower of Jesus Christ, my desire is to glorify the living God of the Bible and point others to him through the thoughts and musings of my broken life made whole by him. I'm a blue-eyed thinker and Bible college grad, married to a cute theologian who is very gifted at doing dishes and teaching God's Word. I love British period dramas and sharing the gospel with strangers. My prayer is that you know Christ more because of his work in my life.

Somewhat Sucker-Punched

The future can hit you straight in the stomach sometimes. Growing up is hard to do.

I find myself again in a strange moment of tension where I’m looking ahead to adulthood but hanging onto my childhood at the same time. I’ve evolved and matured over the past two years at college, and God has definitely been changing me during this time. I feel old some days, heavy with experiences and conversations, but returning home for Spring Break to the Northwoods is like the Twilight Zone. Things change, but slowly, in a bit of a vacuum. After all, when there’s only 12 people per square mile, not a whole lot is going on. My family is pretty well stabilized.

Praise God, though, for consistency and ever-present arms which welcome me back. Praise him, though, for a warm church community and for familiar faces. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord,

Somewhat Sucker-PunchedKaitlyn2019-10-08T02:29:20+00:00

Life as Ministry

I pondered his words over a vanilla latte this afternoon.

“I’ve been learning how to rest this semester…I was doing so much for the Lord — walking with him, doing ministry, and yet I ceased to rest in him. It was my most productive semester yet, but it left me burned out and empty.”

I call him Insightful Kyle for a reason.

As a believer, one aspect of growing in the Lord is recognizing that nothing is about me. I exist to glorify and praise my creator, which is a beautiful and freeing thing. I seek to do ministry to women because I deeply desire others to know their place as daughters in the Lord, members of the Body of Christ, and valued, purposeful disciples for the King (as my professor likes to say, ministering poets instead of unfinished poems). I cannot imagine doing anything else besides walking through life in the trenches with others.

Life as MinistryKaitlyn2019-10-08T02:29:20+00:00

Life as Collective

“Sometimes, when I get tired of campus, I go and sit with a homeless woman who lives down on State Street. I buy her coffee and keep her company until I’m ready to come back.”

Liz from Indiana looked earnestly at me as I blinked and smiled. She’s short, wears big glasses, and has fiery red hair with a cute scarf around her neck, but you would never guess that she grew up in rough inner-Indy, knows poverty well, and feels more at home on the South Side than on our chirpy, middle-class Bible school campus. For her, this is culture shock.

I find it fascinating.

Despite our backstories and contexts, Christ has brought us into the Kingdom of Light (Col. 1:13). Christ has redeemed us all. Christ lives in us.

I find it fascinating.

Despite our mixed bags of past and present, Jesus has strangely united us. This bizarre concoction that is the Body

Life as CollectiveKaitlyn2019-10-08T02:29:20+00:00

Life as Love

My heart is full. Three of my best friends and I adventured this afternoon to a busy coffee shop for espresso and chocolate hazelnut cookies in the bitter cold of Valentine’s Day. Chicago blustered with roses, Eskimos in sleeping bag coats, and Hallmark cards.

The talk was replenishing — oh, the chatter and encouragement of sweet friends who have not been together since September. True, even though we all live on the same dorm floor and spend time individually one-on-one, the last time we managed our schedules to overlap was for Hannah the Traveler’s birthday last fall.

We are so different, yet there are strands of similarities; the Spirit has bound us in our creativity, hearts for the Lord, and passion for people. The love that joins us is unearthly, because we are incapable of loving out of ourselves and loving those so unlike us. Moments like these underscore the depth of

Life as LoveKaitlyn2015-02-15T01:11:52+00:00

Life as Stage

I can’t believe this past week.

Working a major conference into crazy overtime has left me numb and full. It’s like I just ate a huge gourmet meal without having time to take a nap. Big-name speakers, Bible teaching, wearing dress clothes for 16 hours….and then I ran away to visit my mom in the suburbs, which was a nice relief. I loved spending sweet time with my coworkers and getting to know the rest of the event staff better.

Working as an assistant event coordinator has been an incredible blessing. Doing administrative tasks at my desk, emailing and printing little pieces of paper, and then showing up to rope off sections of the auditorium three hours before everyone gets there…..at times it’s difficult to see the point. Yet, when 3,000 people show up to hear Rend Collective lead worship music, a grateful and joyful smile overtakes my face when I realize that

Life as StageKaitlyn2015-02-09T05:14:11+00:00

Resting

I’m preparing for insanity as I stand on the edge of this upcoming week. We have a huge conference taking place on campus that will require all hands on deck, and I’m mentally gearing up.

However, that isn’t to say I had no time for reading homework, tea, and exploring Pilsen this morning. I bought a copy of Gone with the Wind this afternoon and just got back from an epic video game marathon with Archie the Philosopher and Co. Now, I am ready.

Taking time to rest is critically important. I realized that one of the reasons I’ve found myself so strung out at times this year is because I don’t take care to refresh myself often — it’s constantly rush, rush, rush, instead of enjoying conversation over a hot drink or taking alone time in my room. Sounds crazy, because hey, who has time to do anything like that, but I’ve

RestingKaitlyn2019-10-08T02:29:20+00:00

Adventuring

Life has been full of adventures lately. Yet, they’ve all been marked with hard edges.

This past week, I’ve been out multiple times for multiple occasions. It started with a visit to my grandma’s. It was lovely to see her on MLK day, but the lunch was dotted with notes of depression — my grandpa is slowly fading from dementia and lies sleeping in the nursing home down the street. All I could do was hold his hand, really, and sit on the mat next to his bed that the staff keeps there in case he falls. My grandma puts on a brave face, but I know she is crying inside, too.

Donuts and coffee at Glazed and Infused on Friday. Eric from Massachusetts and I needed to catch up on life, and I’ve been trying to grip my mornings with a tighter hand anyway. We rode the El and it was

AdventuringKaitlyn2015-01-25T03:17:33+00:00

Marching

I marched today. No, it wasn’t in a band.

This afternoon, the 2015 March for Life Chicago took place at the Federal Plaza. There had to have been over 2,000 people, all crowded cheerfully and passionately together, yellow balloons stamped “LIFE” in black. Signs, posters, and shouts of “Stand for life!” punctuated the concrete jungle as speakers kicked off the march in support of choosing life for babies and standing up for women struggling with guilt from past abortion experiences.

The sky was crisp, sunny, and welcoming as we strode down Randolph. Police blocked off traffic as my friends and I chirped happily and raised our signs high.

Just as we were nearing the end, exclamations and police on the left side of the street caught my attention. It was a group of equally passionate, college-aged women holding up signs and shouting “Choice!” They were taking potshots and disparaging our march, stating that

MarchingKaitlyn2015-01-19T03:54:06+00:00

Starting

Tomorrow begins another semester.

Strange to think that it’s already been a year and a half since beginning this adventure called Bible college. I’m eager to see what the Lord has in store, but I also have reservations, because hey, it’s always difficult to start fresh. Granted, the roommate, friends, floor, and environment are the same, but there are big changes in the air. New classes, new trials, new news, the world turns and the beat goes on.

Starting can be scary or good, depending on who you are and where you’re at: starting a new marriage, starting chemotherapy, starting to move in, starting to forgive, starting to put away the old boxes of photos and move on, starting to walk in Christ, starting to have a stroke. Starting.

Part of Hebrews (class I’m taking this semester, which I’m pumped about) 12:1 states this: “And let us run with perseverance the race marked

StartingKaitlyn2015-01-12T05:41:21+00:00

Preferring

Peanut Butter S’mores. It may sound disgusting, but it’s one of my favorite ice creams.

Rose Latte. It may sound disgusting, but it’s one of Hannah the Traveler’s favorite coffee drinks.

We are all created with preferences. I like this, you like that, he can’t stand that, fill-in-the-blank. That’s part of how God made us, and it’s a wondrous thing to see how the Body of Christ fits together with the distributed uniqueness among us all. It’s beautiful how people are so different but need the same things: food, shelter, love.

God.

I wonder how many people think of God as just another preference, like an extra blurb to add to a biography or something to rattle off when we talk about mutual interests. “I like chocolate, watching classic films, and going to church,”

PreferringKaitlyn2015-01-09T03:41:02+00:00

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