Guest Post: Bella

With this being the last day in July and summer coming to a close, I thought it fitting to begin a series of guest posts on the LBD blog. These posts will be sporadic, but will hopefully give you a taste of God and His children and how we are all connected and the beautiful things that come of projects like this one. Please, enjoy.

I have been thinking these days of the simplest things we do as humans. Holding a hand. Speaking an encouraging word. Laying next to someone. Braiding a child's hair. Brewing tea for another. Sharing a story. Relishing. Enjoying. Volunteering. Donating. Loving. Being.
Sometimes, just being somewhere or with someone is enough.
It is simple, but it is enough.

I often wonder what life would be like if we were all obedient. If we listened and did what we are told to do, even though we might be scared or fearful or hesitant. So many times we listen to the lies of the world and the enemy instead, and we avoid hard things because their whispers are so loud and the hard things are so hard.
Sometimes hard things seem too hard.

A great man once said that comparison is the thief of joy. This is one of the best things I have learned this year.
This is not my blog. It belongs to my sister, my little sister. She had the gumption and faith to step out and live her life in a way that meant something more this year. She is beautiful. She is kind. She is giving and loving and sweet. She is on a redemption journey, and she is sharing it with people. I was never very good at sharing my life and faith and hope with people. I have always avoided that, because oftentimes I feel that my story doesn't make sense or it isn't pretty enough.
Everyone's story is different.
That doesn't mean it's not as good or beautiful or gorgeous. We all might not have the same handful of mustard seeds, or the same amount of bravery, but that doesn't mean we're less than.

In September, Tatiana is flying to Romania to work with children. She will braid their hair and hold their hands and laugh with them. Orphans are her heart, so she's going to be with them. She will give and give and give. Her journey is across an ocean and at least ninety days long. Her story is one of bravery.
In September I will move south in my state to a small town. I will spend my days in classrooms and hesitantly planting myself in a new church and sharing coffee and being a friend. My journey is one in which I will learn for other people, for little children in another place, but I won't get to them till later. My journey is two more years long. I will give and give and give, but in a different way. My story is different, but I like to think it's brave too.
I am going to be honest. I have had to assure myself of that. I have had to tell myself that this year. Because sometimes it is difficult to think about my future and her's while they're side by side and not to weigh their worth. And not to think, her's is just a little bit braver. 

This post is to encourage you all in your stories, because they all have meaning and I think you should know that. Your bravery doesn't have to be as much as Tatiana's. Your faith doesn't have to match mine. I can almost guarantee that your handful of mustard seeds are more than mine. My faith is small. But I can do great things too. I can move mountains too.
So whether your story says that you wear a little black dress for a year, or you give to orphans you may never meet, or you fly halfway across the world to serve, or you live friendships out that people hold so dearly, or you study for eight years to save lives for the next forty, or you spend a week at a summer camp, I want to assure you,

you are brave too.

Obedience to our carpenter and His gorgeous will for all of our lives is the best life you can live. It looks different, it feels different, and that's because it is different. No two stories are the same. And that's more than okay. That's beautiful. That is something wonderfully made and delicately fashioned.
Don't try to do spectacular things.
Do the simple things.

Please, just be.

You are enough already.

Please take some time to be here and donate to the orphans in Africa. The small things count.
And if you would like to follow Bella and her story, you can read more here.