Today I’ve got a special guest post from a special friend. Katie Wheeler has been near and dear to me since I started blogging over three years ago. We finally had the chance to meet in person at Blend this past Spring and I can say without a doubt that I LOVE this girl. Take it away, Katie!
One of the Best Decisions I Ever Made – Joining a Small Group
Hey Lindsay’s List readers! My name is Katie and I blog over at Peace Love & Oats. I’m a 26 year-old law graduate living in Chicago and trying to figure out where my life is headed, while enjoying reading, running, great friends and many delicious bowls of oatmeal.
When I saw Lindsay’s call for blog posts and the category “One of the Best Decisions I Ever Made,” I started thinking over the past year and how my life had changed. It’s been a year of ups and downs and many struggles, including a job search that just won’t end. Although I have many reasons to feel discouraged, frustrated and embarrassed, I feel more at peace than I have in a long time. Why? My faith.
This past summer I graduated law school and took the Bar Exam (yes, I passed!). Come September, I found myself with a lot more free time to focus on myself. I’d never been particularly religious and didn’t attend church growing up, but I knew then that I wanted to find a church, and preferably a small group, to help me grow in my faith and keep me more accountable.
We started meeting in early December, and since then I have never felt so encouraged, loved, challenged or uncomfortable than I have before. Speaking to these women and working our way through God’s word has forced me to question so many things about myself and about Christianity. I have a better understanding of the person I want to be, my purpose in life, and how much more I can grow and learn.
I have learned to pray, to ask questions, to encourage others and to have faith in things that I cannot see or even truly understand. I have learned that I am not, nor can I ever be, perfect, but I am loved no matter what. This knowledge has given me the freedom to try to be myself and focus on what is important to me. Because no matter what happens here on earth, God is the only one who’s opinion matters.
Although I won’t have this group of women to learn from forever, joining them has set in motion a new way of thinking and living as well as a deeper faith in God and how he is working in my life.
One of the best decisions I ever made.
QUESTION: What’s one of YOUR best decisions?? Do you have a small group to connect with?
splendid…lindsay
My best decision was quitting my job and going back to school for a totally new/different degree. It made me infinitely happier. Now, I’m using neither of those degrees, but I am loving life as a stay at home mom. I’m so glad you found a group to support, empower, and fulfill you :)
How fitting that you posted this on my birthday!!! Haha I should change that to 27-year old.