Telling Stories in the Waiting

I’m not a patient person.

When I take on a project or an event or a cause I am all in. (Ok, maybe even a bit obsessed).   And full-speed ahead.

God has been teaching me a lot about waiting lately.  And being still. And slowing down.

photos by Jeanne Damoff

It’s really the entire theme of Advent, isn’t it?  The waiting…

I went to a play last night.  One depicting the night the shepherds saw the first star and how the Inn was full and how a feeding trough became the place that God gave us His greatest gift.  Tears ran down my cheeks as the cast sang like angels in their tattered cloth, reenacting the scenes that surely surrounded the confusion and wonder of a baby born that night that nobody had any time or room for.  No time or room for a King.

That was the night that a baby born in a stable became the only one to stabilize our weary hearts. 

I drank soup from a bowl and stared at my daughter playing her role there in the scene.  And God reminded me. About the confusion in the waiting.  And how that’s how He works best.  That’s when he shows up:  in the unexpected.

I had planned to put my Beloved Shop online yesterday. But God said “wait.”  And I didn’t like it.

Not one bit.

I think God wanted to remind me that our shared stories are more important than any store.  More important than any timeline or goal or launch date or product we can buy.

So I’d like to swap a few stories between us while I wait for all the details to come together.  Our stories are our greatest gifts.

I am teaming up with two organizations at that store that’s under construction.  And I am passionate about each because of their STORIES of REDEMPTION.

I want to introduce you to Matt and Shelley~the talented team behind the reclaimed wood pieces that will be sold exclusively at the Beloved Shop:

Matt and Shelley are living in a reconciled marriage, a marriage they rebuilt one slivered board at a time.  As they began forgiving each other, looked forward, and are planning the ceremony for renewing their marriage vows, they began to create.  And what they began to create is beautiful.

 

In the same way that relationships need salvaging and rescuing from the past, so did the wood that they began to use.  Painting scripture on the maple and oak and  discarded pallets of wood, they then seal them until the whole world can see that there was beauty all along.

 

This is a love story. It is their love story and it is the love story of Jesus.  This is the reclaimed wood collection that will be exclusive to Beloved in Blue Jeans.

This is beauty.  And this is worth waiting for.

Blessed in the Waiting,

Amy (Blue Jean Girl)

Sneak peek over at the store here…  Beloved Shop  (the whole site is NEW~ so check it all out!!)

I’m also teaming up with ViBella Jewelry.

I’ll be telling more of their story tomorrow.

Thanks for holding my hand in the waiting.