stretch marks...

It's not the first time I've had them...

unfortunately, no one warned me when I was pregnant with Alex that 

my previously tiny body would forever bear the marks of  the strain of all that extra weight.

I've grown used to them and am old enough to know that life is too short to care...{too much}

BUT..

these days I'm enduring a different kind of stretching and straining on my body...

ones that I am sure will also leave lasting marks.

I am expanding beyond my natural ability in so many ways lately.

And it is good

And I am grateful

But stretching means change

and change is sometimes hard and uncomfortable at first.

I am stretching in

my schedule

my flexibility

my relationships

my time

my thoughts

my prayers

my control 

{or lack thereof}

I'm not really mourning what "was", so much...

I see the marks, and I'm pretty sure they will always be a reminder of what got me here.

And "here" is probably not really a final destination, 

but a stop along the way.

There are many unknowns up ahead...

and if I look too far ahead, 

the unknowns are 

daunting

and 

lonely

But I'm pretty confident that the stretch marks of 

today are so that in my tomorrows I can see 

the bigger picture of what God was doing.  

There's no pride in bearing our stretch marks, either on the outside or the inside...but there is a sense of satisfaction that the results were worth the pulling and expanding.

“Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. 

They're what make the instrument stretch-what make you go beyond the norm.”

Cicely Tyson 

Favorite moments of the last week: