I moved to a new town at the end of 2020. Moving in your 50s can be a bit daunting. Would I make friends? Where would we go to church? Would my grown kids want to come home to a place that had never been home to them? Would I start a new career, hobby or further my education? So many unknowns.

I am wired for spontaneity and have always loved a new adventure but in the midst of a pandemic where the world was closed down and people were closed off, my free spirit did not feel so free, fun or flexible anymore. Unknowns started to scare me and what started as sweet alone time with the Lord had turned into utter isolation. I found safety and security in getting to know my extended family again, as they were the people we chose to run toward in a world that had quit running anywhere. The world had shut down and for the most part, so had I.

Thank God for family. They opened their homes and hearts with no “masks”, no “social distancing” and unconditional love in a world that was masked, distant and full of, what seemed like, very conditional love. In fact, one of the greatest gifts from 2020 was the reconnection with my extended family. We say it all the time now, “It feels like we have always lived here.” Home is where your heart is and who knew that my latter years would be deeply rooted in the red, Mississippi mud!

Tupelo has become an oasis of physical, emotional and spiritual healing, a place of palpable peace, a dwelling of deep connection and a well-spring of joy and hope. My family and my church have been like Aaron and Hur holding up Moses’s arms during battle. And God in His abundance has given me faith-filled friends from the Storyteller’s Live  circle and the Arbonne community. I had the opportunity to share some of my faith journey on the Storyteller’s Live Podcast shortly after moving to Mississippi and just this week, God gave me another opportunity to brag on His goodness with a group of Arbonne ladies on their Faithful Fifteen zoom devotional.  One of my life verses is Psalm 81:10, “I am the God who delivered you from Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” God did and still does deliver me from “Egypt”, my places of captivity, and in light of that, I told God that every time I am given a chance to share what He has done and continues to do in my life, my answer is YES. He freed me and still frees me and He promises to give me the words to tell others. He does not play favorites; so, He wants to do the same for you.  I trust Him even when I am far from trusting myself. You can too!

When I lived in Huntsville, I started a community website with a friend, Katie Taylor, (if you click on her name it will take you to her personal blog which is full of beauty, wisdom, joy and hope:) The heart behind it was simply to provide a space for people in our city to share their God-stories:

Ourcityonahill.net. A community site dedicated to uniting believers in the name of Jesus and sharing the glory of God in our city – “God is not a secret to be kept,…we’re going public with this…as public as a city on a hill.” Matthew 5:14 MSG

Although we no longer post new content on the website, it is still live and a memorial stone of a season where we saw our city come together to go public with how God had shown up in their lives, as public as a city on a hill! When I shared on the Faithful 15 this week, God prompted me to share one story in particular, Trash For Glory. It is one I originally shared on Ourcityonahill.net. God reminded me of His faithfulness in the past which reminds us He is faithful in the present, because HE NEVER CHANGES. Remembering and sharing our stories not only encourage others, but it also fans our own faith. I want to reshare this story here and my prayer is that it will inspire you to look for God in the midst of every season, especially the hard ones. He promises that if we seek HIM we will find HIM, so spoiler alert… WE WILL FIND HIM IN EVERY SEASON THAT WE LOOK FOR HIM! I find great comfort in that and I hope you do too.

I titled this post, “I’d Love to Hear Your Faith Stories”, because I hope you will share them with me and if you do, I would love to share them here on my blog, with your permission of course:) You can reply to this post with your story or email me at katiewilson40@gmail.com. You can send it anonymously or with your name and you can share it simply with me or give me permission to share it with the world. I am encouraged daily by the real stories in God’s Word, as well as the real stories of His goodness all around me and I would love for my blog to become a collaborative place where we bring out the God-colors in a world that desperately needs them! (See Matthew 5:14-16 MSG)

Trash For Glory

Phil 3:8-“What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, KNOWING THE MESSIAH, JESUS , MY LORD!  It is because of HIM that I have experienced the loss of all those things.  Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah!”

I am a Memphis girl, born and bred, but “Sweet Home Alabama” has been my home for the last 22 years.  My mother was the last thread holding me to Memphis and she went home to Jesus in the spring of 2013.  During her final days this side of Heaven, I packed up and headed to “Bluff City, the home of Graceland” for a bedside season. My journal and Bible were constant companions. Having lost my dad unexpectedly in 1991, I knew I would see the “God Moments” in hindsight, but my continuous prayer was to recognize HIS PRESENCE, while still IN the valley.

One morning during the “Valley-Vigil,” I specifically wrote in my journal:

“Lord, show me YOUR GLORY today, please.”

(*Get ready to have your hair blown back, because God, in HIS magnificent mercy, blew me away with HIS creative, clever and kind answer to that plea!)

During a therapy session (that is what I have come to call my jogs with Jesus),  I was running around a golf course near my mom’s, through a neighborhood of beautiful homes with long driveways.  I was watching the sky of many colors, as the sun was setting, ushering in twilight.

 I was listening to a sermon about having a servant’s heart and how it is never to late to become who you were meant to be. I was inspired and encouraged and excited to return from this “Jesus Jog” with a renewed spirit to serve,

when I ALMOST missed a divine appointment!

Dressed in a starched white uniform with matching white shoes, she was bent over with a cane and attempting to put the recycle bin inside a big green trashcan.  The long journey back up the driveway called for some trashcan consolidation.  She showed no frustration and a toothy, white smile beamed from her beautiful, brown face.  I am convinced it was her “glow” that caught my attention, not the wrestling match with the trashcans.  I smiled back, said “hello”

and ALMOST kept going.

  Remember, I had been praying continuously to notice the “God Moments,” while still IN the valley, noticing from Christ’s perspective.  God is faithful and I DID NOT miss it!  What good is an inspiring sermon if we don’t live it out!  I wanted a servant’s heart and here was my opportunity to serve.

“May I please take those trashcans up for you?”  I asked.  She smiled and tried to say NO but I was a servant on a mission and I wasn’t taking NO for an answer.  I took both cans by the handle with the recycle bin strategically placed inside one of them and we began our trek up the long driveway.

 (Here it comes.  Are you ready?)

I asked her name and guess what she said?

GLORY!

I got to take up the trash for Glory!

 I started crying at the mention of her name.

(*Remember what I had asked God for in my journal that very morning!)  

It took us a good 10 minutes to get the cans back up the driveway, just long enough for me to tell her I was from Memphis but now lived in Alabama, just long enough for her to tell me she was from Alabama but now lived in Memphis. Although decades apart in age, our hearts were connected immediately as we shared snippets of our stories.

Glory reminded me so much of my Aunt Leta, my “other mother.” Aunt Leta worked for my dad before my parents were married; she helped raise me and all 3 of my older brothers and was still working for my mom.  Although my mom was technically Aunt Leta’s employer, “best friend” and “confidant” were more appropriate titles.

But now back to Glory! 

She asked me if I knew her boss.  You could tell by the admiration in her voice that she had the utmost respect for her employer and that getting those trashcans was a labor of love, not just a part of her job.  You could tell that, although the owner of the big house with the long driveway was technically Glory’s employer, “best friend” and “confidant” may have been more appropriate titles.

You could tell Glory was one of those souls who truly lived out:

“Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for man.”(Col 3:23)

She thanked me repeatedly for helping her take up the trash but I am the one who was overwhelmed with gratitude. I couldn’t tell her enough:

“Thank you for letting me help you!”

We were doing our own little “grateful dance”- round and round we went.  What a sweet world this would be if we all tried to one-up one another in gratitude!

  In that moment, I truly understood that all things are “rubbish or trash” compared to knowing Christ.  In knowing Christ, we NOTICE HIS GLORY, because we see through HIS PERSPECTIVE, not ours.  When we NOTICE HIS GLORY, we won’t take NO for an answer, going ALL OUT because we are ALL IN!

I asked to see GOD’S GLORY and HE delivered in the most creative, clever and kind way!

 To God be all the Glory!

Pun intended:)

Treasure Hunt:

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8 NIV

“Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18 NIV

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial; because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, that God has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12 NIV

“But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 NIV

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:10 NIV

Reflection Questions:

What does “Perspective” mean to you? And how would you describe yours?

Do you feel like you look through the “lens of Christ” or the “lens of circumstances, emotions, past experiences or future expectations” most of the time?

Based on the answers you gave to the previous questions, what is one change you could make this week in order to gain a more positive perspective? (As lifelong learners, we always make room to grow:)