Made it to Jamaica! 🇯🇲

In the span of just one week, I have already learned and experienced so much. From learning how to roof, interacting with locals, and playing with kids, the Lord has filled me with so much joy. The people of Jamaica carry so much joy, and it has been such a gift to experience that firsthand.

But if I’m being honest, my biggest takeaway from this week hasn’t necessarily been about joy. It has been about how the Lord is continuing to shape me and my identity in Him.

I have felt Him tugging me further and further into the uncomfortable—not because He wants me to struggle, but because He is refining me so that I can pour out more of what He is doing in me to others.

Two stories I read this week have been sitting especially heavy on my heart: Jacob wrestling with the Lord and Peter walking on water.

Jacob’s story has reminded me that the Lord is present even in the midst of our wrestling. He wasn’t absent from Jacob’s struggle; He was right there in it. And when Jacob walked away, he walked away changed.

The same is true for Peter. Jesus was there in the middle of the storm. Peter stepped out of the boat, and although his fear eventually caused him to sink, he was learning what it meant to truly rely on Jesus.

And if I’m being fully honest, there have been moments where I have slowed down and felt lost. I have had questions, doubts, fears, and moments where I don’t fully understand what the Lord is doing. But I’m beginning to see that maybe the refining starts with simply sitting at His feet with all of it.

I want to step out of the boat. I want my fear to turn into faith. I want to stop simply walking on the waves and learn how to dance on them with the Lord. And I want to walk away from this season so different that it’s noticeable—not because of anything I have done, but because of what He has done in me.

I’m writing this blog with a vulnerable heart because I want to let you all in on more of how the Lord is working in my life, so that I can hopefully share even more about how He is using me to impact the people around me.

So as I close, I want to encourage you to keep wrestling with the Lord and keep walking in faith.

Don’t be afraid to go deeper.

Sometimes going deeper means sinking a little. Sometimes it means being uncomfortable. Sometimes it means sitting with questions you don’t have answers to yet. But we have to be willing to go there because the Lord calls us to more—not because He is trying to break us, but because He loves us too much to leave us where we are.

Never stop digging. Never stop wrestling. Never stop stepping out of the boat.

There is more of Him to know. 🤍

-Love, Ayslee