Inside Out

It's cold outside. It's beautiful, too, but it's cold. I found this photo from Architectural Digest. Isn't it dreamy? I'm finding, lately I want to redo everything in my home to be light, airy, and open with splashes of bright color.

This photo reminds me of quiet reading, blue skies, and fresh, spring air. It also has me wondering if this might be another year of growing into even more of who I really am. Don't we all want that?

Don't get me wrong. I'm authentically me. I just feel like God's continually changing and transforming the way I see His world. I love that He is. I also love that He often seems to provide insight, into the next phase of construction, if you will.

In the last five years or so, I have been drawn to things that make me feel warm, safe, cozy, welcomed. I have craved rich tones, dim lights, and cozy, wood fires. I still love those things. It's in the looking back on these last years, that I can more clearly see how much time God has spent working on building me brand-new on the inside.

I'm talking MAJOR renovations. He needed to clear out some of what I might call my "store bought" notions on how life should look, to make room for something much more unique and special...more of what He had in mind when He knit me together.

So, that I'll affectionately term: my season of phenomenal inside changes...

Here are some definitions of the word: 1Inward character, perceptions, or feelings 2The inner parts or workings 3 within 4 confidential

The inside work can't always be seen. I cried plenty of tears alone in the inky blackness of my room. I prayed many a prayer that only the Father heard. It's possible to share the inside happenings with another, or that onlookers can take notice of changes they see in you... but those only seep from the deep changing happening on the inside... where only God sees.



So, I've said this before, but I'll repeat it again: This just might be yet another big learning year for me. I still don't exactly know what it is I even mean in stating that, but I feel it nonetheless. My hunches tell me perhaps I might be entering a season of outside change... and I'm not talkin' wardrobe and hair (although I've had some dreams on that! literally, my nights have been filled with Etsy fun!)

Outside - a space that conjures images of wispy clouds, gentle breezes, and the soft kisses of sunshine on awaiting cheeks. A place of fresh air, kelly-green grass, and the brilliant, rainbow hues of sweet-smelling flowers.

So what does God have in store? I don't honestly know. We never can exactly tell. But I know I'm in faithful, ever-loving, very present hands. So, I'm excited.

I am down-to-my-bones excited. Perhaps that's a reason I'm drawn to having as many bright colors around me as I possibly can? Maybe they remind me of life outdoors. Maybe they are accurately displaying what it is I'm feeling on the inside. I mean, when you see a extraordinary arrangement of fantastically bright and sunny flowers, don't they make you break into a big, cheeky smile? They do it to me every time. Maybe you're even smiling at the mere thought of them.

Maybe, just maybe, God is planning on taking all of what He's done on the inside and using it to reach, grow, change, transform life all around me...

here on the outside...

I hope so. I'm wanting to learn how to follow Him anywhere, all the while, bringing with me His rich fragrance and indescribable color...

His shades of grace.
and mercy
and love.