This week, you won't find the usual Story Seeker post. This was the story burning on my heart, and this is the story I needed to share. The typical Story Seeker series will continue next week!
There will be people you get to hold, ones you get to hug tight, heartbeats drumming together. Hearts that will crack open so you can slip inside and get comfortable. Homes with open doors and a spot on the couch ready for you, a big blanket nearby so you can stay warm and cozy. There will be hands that fit in yours, filling the cracks between your fingers in a way that just feels right. There will be happiness that crackles and sparkles and shines, lighting up the darkness and igniting joy.
There will be summers that seem everlasting, sunshine soaking the earth for hours on end. Adventures will whisk you away to new places with new faces. You'll blaze new trails and capture new memories of these moments in time. Coffeeshops and cool breezes will carry your conversations well into the night, the stars keeping you company as you wish on each one. Romances will blossom, straight out of a fairytale or a country song, and you'll feel like this is invincible.
There will come clouds and change, shadows and storms, darkness and discouragement. The season of sun will seem far away as the sky stays gray and the beauty falls from the trees. You'll become obsessed with time and the ticking of each second as it echoes in your ears, a countdown looming in front of you to remind you this season will be a long one. Coffeeshop conversations will take a turn down a new path, with questions that make your heart wrench and the tears well up in your eyes. Your pen will spill on paper words you never knew how to say out loud. You'll seal it and send it and then wish you could take it back.
You'll fall for someone who was somewhere else. You'll find yourself stuck in muddy waters where you can't find your footing, and you'll struggle to see how you could ever wash this away. You'll fight it and you'll force it. A text message will come like an interruption, and everything will change. You'll feel every emotion and you'll tell every friend and you'll feel the world spinning out of control for a moment. And then, you'll feel free.
Then clarity will come. Relief will flood you. Peace will surround you. And you'll feel good again. You'll finally feel free. Your hands will relax from the fists they've been clenched in, and you'll realize how sweet surrender can be. You'll know this is an end, but oh, how much more this is really a beginning.
You'll feel the stress slip away, the grip of anxiety release, and the light seep back in again. The feelings that held you down and kept you back have been kicked to the curb, and nothing stands in your way now. No doubt, no worry, no fear. The road was once daunting, and now it beckons to you with the promise of goodness to come, the hope of what's next around the bend.
There will be people you get to wish well as you part from their side, ones you know will go places you were never meant to be. Hearts will heal and hope will be restored. Opportunities will arise as if out of thin air, and you'll find that purpose was behind it all. Friendships will solidify and you'll know undeniably you were never alone.
Your soul will find freedom. Your soul will find rest in this. Your soul will find joy everlasting, blessed assurance, glorious restoration. You'll find yourself full of gratitude. You'll find yourself feeling alive. You'll find yourself worshipping and celebrating and rejoicing. And you'll realize in all of it, you're finding yourself.