Michelle's Shell

Single . Yes, I’ve had a lot of experience with that status.  While many girls at 18 think they’ll die if they don’t find their man soon, I’ve made it to 28.  And I’ve heard the accompanying comments like, “So… just haven’t found the right one yet?”  Or, “I’d have thought you’d have changed your last name by now!”  So since I am such an expert (cough) on single life, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on its myths and realities. 1. Aren’t you ready yet? For starters, I’ve become pretty sure we’re not all ready to have a serious relationship and get married at 21 or younger.  I didn’t see why I wasn’t.  But when the rubber hit the road I found out!  And the truth is that though I thought I knew who I was at 21, I would change in a whole lot of ways over the next few years.  Much of my life mission, goals, passions, and the priorities that now define my life were largely discovered after the age of 21.  And I have gotten to travel, have...

Boxes.  I hate feeling pushed into someone else’s.  Yet I realize how quick I am to throw out people and ideas that don’t fit into mine.  Religion.  It’s received somewhat of a bad name.  I know and hear of many people who feel they have to go “beyond” religion to find meaning, spirituality, or even God.  Is religion just another box?  Truth.  It can seem threatened by those things that attempt to break down the walls of the “boxes” in religion.  Does that mean “truth” is just another box?  Or could it be deeper, broader, and different? Admittedly, something in me likes things to stay in neat and tidy boxes.  I search for order, borders, and appropriate separations.  Right versus wrong.  Good versus bad. Appropriate versus inappropriate.  I long to be someone that stands for truth and lives with conviction.  But sometimes, ignorance of truth and or lack of conviction are easily filled with religious norms a...

From May 4, 2012 This weekend marks seven years since I walked down Southern’s graduation aisle and gave God permission to throw me out as a laborer into His harvest (Luke 10:2).  I’m sure I didn’t understand then just how “radical” (as Pr. Derek Morris would say) that prayer was.  And honestly, seven years later I’m still finding it out. I’ll never forget leaving my post-graduation summer internship with Adventist Health System, having turned down a spot in their tempting financial management residency program, and setting foot in the doublewide trailer that housed the Amazing Facts College of Evangelism.  A few years before I would have NEVER pictured myself in a place like that.  College of Evangelism?  What?  Great, but not for people like me…  However, I also won’t forget the amazing things I learned and the vivid feeling of never having been more sure that I made the right choice. Yet my experience with God’s radical responses really ...