Dear Friend,
You did not fail.
You are not a failure.
Do you believe that?
I didn't.
After this season I will most likely not ever be a collegiate athlete again.
I failed.
But why do I feel like that?
I have always set this image in my head that if I do not complete and graduate while playing lacrosse for a college, then my reputation and goal to be a collegiate athlete would be some how revoked.
Well....I can tell you that that mentality is absolutely ridiculous.
I have not failed.
I have played and done well at the collegiate athletic level for two years. I was part of a team that changed me and shaped me into who I am and for that I am so entirely grateful.
Not so great things happen and situations change.
That is not failing.
For the past couple months I have decided that if I don't pray, don't read my Bible and don't think about "where God wants me to be" than He would not be able to tell me what I did not WANT to hear.
Ask me how well that worked out for me....
It did NOT.
I am happy with where my world will be going in a couple months.
Do not get me wrong --- I am sad to be leaving and moving on from the life of living on my own in the South. It will TOTALLY be missed.
Change is happening and I'm embracing it.
...okay so maybe it is a very hesitant embrace but hey I am at least TRYING to fully embrace it.
So cheers to a new adventure with new people and a collegiate athletic career that I can proudly remember for the rest of my life as achieving a dream that I have worked for for a very long time.
And cheers to turning around and admitting I was wrong and actually listening to He who created all.
I am not a failure and I have not failed.
Neither have you.
Remember that.
JoJo
Sunday, February 3, 2019
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Pocohantas
Dear friend,
Have you ever had a friend that is the sweetest human being ever: funny, kind, straightforward and sometimes they open their mouth and just pure wisdom rolls out.
I have a friend like that.
She is wise beyond her years and it amazes me. I see her and I talk with her and I leave amazed with more questions that I came with but my questions are all answered.
I am a Disney fan - I promise this will relate.
The trio of us (myself and my two best friends) go on road trips. My one friend, Jackie, and I belt at the top of our lungs. We both grew up singing and performing so that is just the natural thing to do. Belt and sing at the top of your lungs...we would both argue it is a great stress reliever.
Mandy, the other sweet friend of mine, is normally in the back seat just listening. She will rarely belt with us and if she does sing it is a sweet voice that carries above Jackie and my obnoxiously loud singing and harmonizing.
BUT - the minute any song from the Disney movie "Pocahontas" comes on that all changes. Jackie and I will stop singing just to hear sweet Mandy let the world hear her voice. It is her FAVORITE and it brings everyone around joy to see her face light up.
Now remember that friend I asked you about? The wise one? Well in our trio that happens to be Mandy. Mandy. 5'1, always smiling, constantly giggling. Mandy.
So this time it will be about Mandy - Jackie will have a story of her own another time :)
Before I left from my Thanksgiving break of my sophomore year of college, I was sitting with Mandy talking about college and the difficulties of finances I was having at the time. She thought for what seemed like 20 minutes (in reality it was just a frame of silence for about 20 seconds).
She took a deep breath and told me something that I will never forget.
This is what she said:
"You know the compass from Pocahontas (to which I answered with "duh")
That represents us. We go through the same challenge that Pocahontas faced.
Christ is always north. That compass constantly points towards Christ.
Where we face changes where Christ is in our lives. If we are dead north we can walk and we can know that he is where we are facing.
Sometimes we are a little left and we have to figure out how to get back to north.
Sometimes we are a little right and we hit that challenge of "where am i" yet again.
And then sometimes we are facing south were north is long behind us.
But do you realize that the north arrow does not disappear?
It is constantly pointing. God does not leave you. Whether you are facing all the way south or a little north east....you will always know that God is there.
North is sometimes hard to find.
But that is the amazing part of our relationship with God.
He is willing to help us find north by simply being there with us and pointing the arrow the right way.
All we need to do is listen."
What?
She took a story that I had grown to love and made it into my favorite because of a simple compass.
I left that conversation with it buzzing between my ears.
A couple weeks later I get this message from that dear friend:
"Thinking about you today sweet friend. Your compass might just be like hers today...just a little to the left... but just like she did, you'll figure it out too."
I leave you with Mandy's wise words - God is there. All we must do is listen. He will help us but just like "north"....he is steadfast and not going anywhere.
With love,
JoJo
Have you ever had a friend that is the sweetest human being ever: funny, kind, straightforward and sometimes they open their mouth and just pure wisdom rolls out.
I have a friend like that.
She is wise beyond her years and it amazes me. I see her and I talk with her and I leave amazed with more questions that I came with but my questions are all answered.
I am a Disney fan - I promise this will relate.
The trio of us (myself and my two best friends) go on road trips. My one friend, Jackie, and I belt at the top of our lungs. We both grew up singing and performing so that is just the natural thing to do. Belt and sing at the top of your lungs...we would both argue it is a great stress reliever.
Mandy, the other sweet friend of mine, is normally in the back seat just listening. She will rarely belt with us and if she does sing it is a sweet voice that carries above Jackie and my obnoxiously loud singing and harmonizing.
BUT - the minute any song from the Disney movie "Pocahontas" comes on that all changes. Jackie and I will stop singing just to hear sweet Mandy let the world hear her voice. It is her FAVORITE and it brings everyone around joy to see her face light up.
Now remember that friend I asked you about? The wise one? Well in our trio that happens to be Mandy. Mandy. 5'1, always smiling, constantly giggling. Mandy.
So this time it will be about Mandy - Jackie will have a story of her own another time :)
Before I left from my Thanksgiving break of my sophomore year of college, I was sitting with Mandy talking about college and the difficulties of finances I was having at the time. She thought for what seemed like 20 minutes (in reality it was just a frame of silence for about 20 seconds).
She took a deep breath and told me something that I will never forget.
This is what she said:
"You know the compass from Pocahontas (to which I answered with "duh")
That represents us. We go through the same challenge that Pocahontas faced.
Christ is always north. That compass constantly points towards Christ.
Where we face changes where Christ is in our lives. If we are dead north we can walk and we can know that he is where we are facing.
Sometimes we are a little left and we have to figure out how to get back to north.
Sometimes we are a little right and we hit that challenge of "where am i" yet again.
And then sometimes we are facing south were north is long behind us.
But do you realize that the north arrow does not disappear?
It is constantly pointing. God does not leave you. Whether you are facing all the way south or a little north east....you will always know that God is there.
North is sometimes hard to find.
But that is the amazing part of our relationship with God.
He is willing to help us find north by simply being there with us and pointing the arrow the right way.
All we need to do is listen."
What?
She took a story that I had grown to love and made it into my favorite because of a simple compass.
I left that conversation with it buzzing between my ears.A couple weeks later I get this message from that dear friend:
"Thinking about you today sweet friend. Your compass might just be like hers today...just a little to the left... but just like she did, you'll figure it out too."
I leave you with Mandy's wise words - God is there. All we must do is listen. He will help us but just like "north"....he is steadfast and not going anywhere.
With love,
JoJo
Saturday, November 25, 2017
The World of "I"
Dear Friend,
There is so much I have planned....
I have decided....
I have made up my mind....
I am ready....
I....
I....
I............
When did THIS become the reaction?
When did THIS become what I think and live by?
I.
I.
I.
I sit here in a (rather comfy) chair at Starbucks and reflect on where I went wrong. Where I went from "THY will be done" to "MY will be done".
How easy that was. That shift. Thy to My. How easy!
How hard it is. To shift yet again. From My to Thy....
I am not a bad person.
SURE! I have made my fair share (and that means PLENTY) of mistakes! After all, I'm human!
The crazy thing is...Christ does not expect me to be PERFECT but he sure asks me to reflect who he is.
Reflect.
That's a funny word....but what does that mean?
How do I reflect a man who walked this earth blameless and perfect??? How do I reenact a life that literally saved mine from a life in hell??
Reflecting who Christ is simply means living a life where I live in a way that is GOD-HONORING and GLORIFYING to who He is.
Simply....that is a whole lot easier said than done.
So then my question that I did not want to answer for the longest time....Am I doing that?
My answer?...
Absolutely not.
That is the reality of my situation.
So today here is my decision....
Living a life of "MY" is great and I will tell you why....because I get to call the shots and I get to dictate where I am going...
Or so I think....
The reality of what I am facing is that I actually am not living a life of "MY". I am simply just not living a life that is GOD-HONORING and GLORIFYING to who He is and, in my opinion, that is worse. That is not living according to "THY will be done".
Here is my CHOICE...decisions are HARD and they will never get easier (trust me I wish this were not the case)...
But I can make that choice to live and REFLECT in a way that allows my decisions to be made in the "THY" mindset and not the "MY" mindset.
**THIS IS NOT AN EASY TASK AND IT IS NOT A SIMPLE SWITCH TO BE FLIPPED**
But, although hard, it is something that I am deciding to change...
You hear that?
DECIDING
Christ does not demand this he asks this. Is that not amazing?
We are not demanded to love him yet he manages to say "I love you so much that I am asking you to seek me and love me back."
He is asking us to walk the "THY" life.
Today is the day that I change my mindset.
MY ====> THY
You know how earlier I said that living the MY life is great?? Well here is the fine print..
"It is great BUT.....
It provides no peace. No unconditional love. No God who literally sent His son to die for me....
It only provides a list of "me" and "I" and that is not a way to live.
Today I choose to live in the THY mindset and it brings me peace in knowing I am sitting in my Maker's hands and he is ready for me and loves me with a love that I will never fully be able to comprehend.
-JoJo
There is so much I have planned....
I have decided....
I have made up my mind....
I am ready....
I....
I....
I............
When did THIS become the reaction?
When did THIS become what I think and live by?
I.
I.
I.
I sit here in a (rather comfy) chair at Starbucks and reflect on where I went wrong. Where I went from "THY will be done" to "MY will be done".
How easy that was. That shift. Thy to My. How easy!
How hard it is. To shift yet again. From My to Thy....
I am not a bad person.
SURE! I have made my fair share (and that means PLENTY) of mistakes! After all, I'm human!
The crazy thing is...Christ does not expect me to be PERFECT but he sure asks me to reflect who he is.
Reflect.
That's a funny word....but what does that mean?
How do I reflect a man who walked this earth blameless and perfect??? How do I reenact a life that literally saved mine from a life in hell??
Reflecting who Christ is simply means living a life where I live in a way that is GOD-HONORING and GLORIFYING to who He is.
Simply....that is a whole lot easier said than done.
So then my question that I did not want to answer for the longest time....Am I doing that?
My answer?...
Absolutely not.
That is the reality of my situation.
So today here is my decision....
Living a life of "MY" is great and I will tell you why....because I get to call the shots and I get to dictate where I am going...
Or so I think....
The reality of what I am facing is that I actually am not living a life of "MY". I am simply just not living a life that is GOD-HONORING and GLORIFYING to who He is and, in my opinion, that is worse. That is not living according to "THY will be done".
Here is my CHOICE...decisions are HARD and they will never get easier (trust me I wish this were not the case)...
But I can make that choice to live and REFLECT in a way that allows my decisions to be made in the "THY" mindset and not the "MY" mindset.
**THIS IS NOT AN EASY TASK AND IT IS NOT A SIMPLE SWITCH TO BE FLIPPED**
But, although hard, it is something that I am deciding to change...
You hear that?
DECIDING
Christ does not demand this he asks this. Is that not amazing?
We are not demanded to love him yet he manages to say "I love you so much that I am asking you to seek me and love me back."
He is asking us to walk the "THY" life.
Today is the day that I change my mindset.
MY ====> THY
You know how earlier I said that living the MY life is great?? Well here is the fine print..
"It is great BUT.....
It provides no peace. No unconditional love. No God who literally sent His son to die for me....
It only provides a list of "me" and "I" and that is not a way to live.
Today I choose to live in the THY mindset and it brings me peace in knowing I am sitting in my Maker's hands and he is ready for me and loves me with a love that I will never fully be able to comprehend.
-JoJo
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