5 posts tagged “maddie”
Well, I've had some concerned readers who were waiting for a blog update email me to ask if I made it home alright. I'm home. I have to say, though, that it feels like I'm going to need a few days to rest up from my trip and get back into the swing of things. I could tell on Saturday as I was driving home from North Carolina that I was about to hit "the wall"...physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, etc. The past couple days of being home have left me feeling pretty drained and I'm realizing that I need some time to get away for a few days by myself and decompress. :) So, I'm going to use this week to organize, pay bills, and prepare for a wedding that I'm singing in this weekend, and then next week I'm going to head up to the Lodge to spend a few days in non-driving solitude. :::BIG SIGH::: I will be honest and say that typically the transition back into normal routine after a trip is particularly difficult for me...on many levels, so in that regard, I would certainly welcome any prayers.
My trip, overall, was incredibly positive. I loved connecting old friends and new friends, and I'm so, so thankful for the chance to share my music and life with people along the way. The Lord was good to not only work through me on this trip, but IN me as well. There were some difficult moments of real soul-searching, but in those times He is always so faithful to meet me where I am and teach me through the process. I am both humbled by and grateful for those moments.
It's good to be home though. My Maddie cat is as soft and fluffy as ever and I'm thoroughly enjoying burying my face in her fur. :) Yesterday I had dinner with the family and I could hardly contain my excitement at seeing the kids again. Lucas is starting to memorize Bible verses at church and when he recited Deuteronomy 31:8, " The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged", I nearly bawled. It's good to be home.
Thank you all for your prayers for me while I was gone. And thank you to those of you who took time out of your schedule to meet up with me or host me along the way. You all are such a vital part of my ministry and I do not take that for granted. You are loved.
Just got in about 4 hours ago. It's been great to be here with my family and love on the nephews and pet the Maddiecat. But I'm heading out again tomorrow afternoon for an Indieheaven conference this weekend in Nashville, so my time here is short lived. After the conference, I'll be driving through Indiana and hopefully be doing some shows along the way in Ohio, so I'm not really going to be home-home until th 9th or 10th.
That said, I'm going to go take a walk with my mom.
She thinks she's all that.
Show us your favorite animal.
Inspired by the Emporer.
This is my Maddie. I like to call her "Maddiecat". Last year when my house caught on fire, the fireman found her hiding under my bathtub. He was able to rescue her, but she had smoke inhalation. There was a picture of her in the paper laying on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on her face. I'm glad she's alive. I would be sad otherwise.
A year ago, in August, I was in Germany. Four days before I returned home, I received a phone call from a friend of mine who was staying at my place while I was gone. Our conversation went a little something like this:
"Hey, Min. I need to tell you something."
"Sure, Anna. What's going on?"
"Well...there was a fire, and your house was burned pretty badly"
"How bad?"
"uh...you can't live there anymore."
(at this point, my initial concern was for Maddie, my cat, but Anna quickly assured me that she had been rescued. She even made the front page of the newspaper!) :)
When I got back to the states, I moved in with my friend, Amy, who had an extra room for me, and stayed with her for six months until they finished building my little apartment. At the same time, I started travelling a lot with my music, and when I came home from that, I would often dog/housesit for people who were away on vacation. Then I would come back to my room at Amy's which really wasn't "mine" at all, and watch TV in her living room and make dinner in her kitchen and check my email on her computer...you get the point. Up until this time, however, I never realized how valuable my own personal space was to me. So I set my sights on getting back into my apartment. I have a cool neighborhood and great landlords, and I told them I was committed to waiting for the apartment to be built so I could move back in. And so I waited. Finally, in February of this year, I moved back in...but only for a couple days before moving into the "snake-house" to housesit for the entire month of March. Since then, the longest period of time that I think I've actually been in my house at a time has been about three and a half weeks.
Because of all this, over the past year I have really done a lot of thinking about this whole concept of "home". It obviously would have a different connotaion for everyone, but generally speaking, "home" carries with it--or at least it should--the idea of security, safety, belonging. But what happens when the place you call home is destroyed, or transient, or unstable. What then? Well, I suppose that is when you begin to realize that "home" is not as much a geographical location as it is a state of being.
There's a great line in the Rich Mullins song "Here in America" (who, incidentally, was killed 9 years ago today) that says, "But I am home anywhere if You are where I am". I love that...and it is exactly what I have been learning this year. My "home" here is not guaranteed. However, my position in Christ is. Who He is, and who I am in Him is a sure thing that does not change. THAT is secure. THAT is safe. And THAT is where I truely belong.
Of course, it's one thing to sit here and write a blog about it, or even talk about it from the stage. It's a whole 'nother ball game to practically live that out in my life. It has been fresh on my mind recently as the circumstances of my life have felt somewhat unstable over the past few months. Things are changing for me in a lot of areas, and that is scary...but exciting at the same time. I just hope that during this season of transition in my life, my grip will be tight on His promises to never change...to be safe...to my place of belonging...my Home.
