O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
who orderest all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

the anticipation is building for me. I sat in church last Sunday and realized I was expecting not to be moved and was WHAM! flooded with emotion. I think it had a great deal to do with hearing the stories of our churches engagement in Africa. What was beautiful to me was that our relationship building with a community in Africa has been so thoughtful, so intentional, and so empowering to their community. What also struck me to the point of my personal flood was watching the few people story tell of their engagement on the project and literally seeing the beauty of people living out their skills and hearts as one for a greater purpose, for God's glory. it was tangibly beautiful and left me a mess. and then we sang the below lyrics from the song Relent:

"Come be the fire inside of me
Come be the flame upon my heart
come be the fire inside of me
Until You and I are one."

And although i've actually song that song so many times, this time the words jumped off the screen. i wanted to shoot my hands in the air and beg God to come be the fire inside of me. i want my drive, my purpose, my feistiness to be up-fitted by your will. that felt so very clear in that space in that moment after those stories. i felt small and huge at the same time. small at all my distractions and less glorious aspirations and huge from considering the power of living more fully into my skill and my heart for something bigger.

Thank you Emmanuel.