What do you do when your normal is turned upside down into a new normal? Do you adapt or fight against change? One young woman in our community, Erin Elliott, has been empowered by Jesus to adapt.
When Erin was completing her fifth grade school year, her daddy decided to make a huge career change from corporate America to the non-profit world. Her parents sat down with Erin and her brother to try to explain how their life would change. Being a child, it was probably hard to grasp that a change in income would impact their lives.
They explained visits to Chick-fil-a would be less often as would shopping sprees with mom. Hunting with dad would be less or at different places than the hunting club she was familiar. And cable television wouldn’t be available anymore, but she could still check out movies from the library and enjoy Netflix. The food selection would change some, maybe different snacks than she was accustomed and less availability to go into the grocery and pick whatever she wanted. Extra activities would look different and more free options would be incorporated into the family lifestyle. Birthdays and Christmas would have a different flare as focus would shift from the amount of gifts to the intentional quality time of family.
Maybe she grumbled a little, out loud or inside her heart, but she rushed into a surrendered life pretty freely. Erin found herself delighting in the simple pleasures of a painted African face, riding with her dad to pick up donations and volunteering at community events. She found herself making games out of cleaning “public” bathrooms and picking up trash after a gathering. She fell in love with baby chicks and new community friends. She played video games with “new big brothers” and stayed out late painting at the community house.
Life became less about Erin and more about others. She started noticing the little girls and including them, praying about life burdens her little eyes and heart became exposed to, and started dreaming about going on a mission trip one day. Erin may not realize her life is becoming a mission trip.
Over the last year, her heart is becoming more malleable. She’s experiencing how “the stuff” is not where the joy comes from. She walks into the back door of Trader Joe’s with confidence to help pick up shares and helps distribute the frozen meat into food boxes with a happy heart. She may even be a little kinder to her brother. Wink.
She is not afraid of change. Change has proven to be an adventure, picking up discarded clothing at the Mercedes Marathon, biking with a pack of kids at Oak Mountain, or serving tacos to her new Taco Wednesday “adult friends” that have become family to her. She’s being heard as they ask her how she is, listen to her and treat her as an equal. And in the eavesdropping/listening to their spiritual growth, her life is manifesting growth of its own.
Erin shows us that maybe the greatest treasure Jesus can give is to turn our lives upside down, to teach us to live in ways we never thought we would live, to try new foods and be content with the simple things. She is growing and headed into seventh grade next year. She’s embracing more change as they begin homeschooling. She’s not afraid. She’s excited. She sees what is good. She’s excited to stay up late at prayer night, to help her mom pick up Publix donations on Tuesday morning and to help her dad with community business. Erin doesn’t mind “shopping” at the “Give and Take Room” either!
Erin Elliott is making us better. As she blossoms in her walk with Jesus, we want to know Him more too! She makes us better together as she continues to trust God for her “new normal” and be content with the life Jesus has given her.
“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” – 1 Timothy 6:6-8
What do you do when your normal is turned upside down into a new normal? Do you adapt or fight against change? One young woman in our community, Erin Elliott, has been empowered by Jesus to adapt.
When Erin was completing her fifth grade school year, her daddy decided to make a huge career change from corporate America to the non-profit world. Her parents sat down with Erin and her brother to try to explain how their life would change. Being a child, it was probably hard to grasp that a change in income would impact their lives.
They explained visits to Chick-fil-a would be less often as would shopping sprees with mom. Hunting with dad would be less or at different places than the hunting club she was familiar. And cable television wouldn’t be available anymore, but she could still check out movies from the library and enjoy Netflix. The food selection would change some, maybe different snacks than she was accustomed and less availability to go into the grocery and pick whatever she wanted. Extra activities would look different and more free options would be incorporated into the family lifestyle. Birthdays and Christmas would have a different flare as focus would shift from the amount of gifts to the intentional quality time of family.
Maybe she grumbled a little, out loud or inside her heart, but she rushed into a surrendered life pretty freely. Erin found herself delighting in the simple pleasures of a painted African face, riding with her dad to pick up donations and volunteering at community events. She found herself making games out of cleaning “public” bathrooms and picking up trash after a gathering. She fell in love with baby chicks and new community friends. She played video games with “new big brothers” and stayed out late painting at the community house.
Life became less about Erin and more about others. She started noticing the little girls and including them, praying about life burdens her little eyes and heart became exposed to, and started dreaming about going on a mission trip one day. Erin may not realize her life is becoming a mission trip.
Over the last year, her heart is becoming more malleable. She’s experiencing how “the stuff” is not where the joy comes from. She walks into the back door of Trader Joe’s with confidence to help pick up shares and helps distribute the frozen meat into food boxes with a happy heart. She may even be a little kinder to her brother. Wink.
She is not afraid of change. Change has proven to be an adventure, picking up discarded clothing at the Mercedes Marathon, biking with a pack of kids at Oak Mountain, or serving tacos to her new Taco Wednesday “adult friends” that have become family to her. She’s being heard as they ask her how she is, listen to her and treat her as an equal. And in the eavesdropping/listening to their spiritual growth, her life is manifesting growth of its own.
Erin shows us that maybe the greatest treasure Jesus can give is to turn our lives upside down, to teach us to live in ways we never thought we would live, to try new foods and be content with the simple things. She is growing and headed into seventh grade next year. She’s embracing more change as they begin homeschooling. She’s not afraid. She’s excited. She sees what is good. She’s excited to stay up late at prayer night, to help her mom pick up Publix donations on Tuesday morning and to help her dad with community business. Erin doesn’t mind “shopping” at the “Give and Take Room” either!
Erin Elliott is making us better. As she blossoms in her walk with Jesus, we want to know Him more too! She makes us better together as she continues to trust God for her “new normal” and be content with the life Jesus has given her.
“Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” – 1 Timothy 6:6-8
What do you do when your normal is turned upside down into a new normal? Do you adapt or fight against change? One young woman in our community, Erin Elliott, has been empowered by Jesus to adapt.
They explained visits to Chick-fil-a would be less often as would shopping sprees with mom. Hunting with dad would be less or at different places than the hunting club she was familiar. And cable television wouldn’t be available anymore, but she could still check out movies from the library and enjoy Netflix. The food selection would change some, maybe different snacks than she was accustomed and less availability to go into the grocery and pick whatever she wanted. Extra activities would look different and more free options would be incorporated into the family lifestyle. Birthdays and Christmas would have a different flare as focus would shift from the amount of gifts to the intentional quality time of family.
Maybe she grumbled a little, out loud or inside her heart, but she rushed into a surrendered life pretty freely. Erin found herself delighting in the simple pleasures of a painted African face, riding with her dad to pick up donations and volunteering at community events. She found herself making games out of cleaning “public” bathrooms and picking up trash after a gathering. She fell in love with baby chicks and new community friends. She played video games with “new big brothers” and stayed out late painting at the community house.
Life became less about Erin and more about others. She started noticing the little girls and including them, praying about life burdens her little eyes and heart became exposed to, and started dreaming about going on a mission trip one day. Erin may not realize her life is becoming a mission trip.
Erin shows us that maybe the greatest treasure Jesus can give is to turn our lives upside down, to teach us to live in ways we never thought we would live, to try new foods and be content with the simple things. She is growing and headed into seventh grade next year. She’s embracing more change as they begin homeschooling. She’s not afraid. She’s excited. She sees what is good. She’s excited to stay up late at prayer night, to help her mom pick up Publix donations on Tuesday morning and to help her dad with community business. Erin doesn’t mind “shopping” at the “Give and Take Room” either!