River of Thoughts

Christine Royse Niles — Changing the world one word at a time

Party Time!

One of the blogs I read regularly is Stuff Christians Like. I think I was the last person on earth to find it, so I don’t have to tell you about it, right?

Anyway, recently, Jon posted a very thoughtful “Serious Wednesday” post about the silence of God and what we can learn through it. It got me thinking.

I am emerging from one of those seasons….YEARS of silence about my “higher purpose,” slogging along in corporate America, killing myself over copiers. I kept waiting for God to drop a project plan in my lap with a clearly defined scope and objective.

Instead of answering the way I expected, God scored a hat trick.

  • Last year, our small group read Francis Chan’s Crazy Love, which inspired me to look at my faith carefully, to grasp the difference between Jesus and religion, and to see that some real changes were necessary.
  • Then I read David Platt’s Radical, which showed me that being “all in” can take on a variety of forms, and compelled me start changing how I acted on my faith.
  • Then I came across a trailer for a crazy book called Quitter (that pesky Jon Acuff again) that helped me start taking immediate, tangible steps to recover my gifts, discover my dream, and start building it up.

In the past year, God has shouted at me from every angle to just get up and start walking. Now, I’m taking immediate, measurable steps to follow the road home.

The more steps I take, the more the fog lifts from the path He’s created for me–the farther I see. And now I know that at my party, I get to serve a feast to the fatherless.

What’s the best party you’ve ever been to? Leave a comment…

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About Christine

I am a writer, a project manager, and a corporate refugee with a heart for orphans around the world. My two daughters were adopted from Ukraine at ages 12 and 14. I post about writing, chasing dreams, and making a difference in the world, and sometimes I share fun snippets of fiction in-progress.

4 Replies

  1. THANK YOU for directing me to that post. I read Jon pretty regularly and had missed that post all together.

    Looking back, I can see how that precise situation has presented itself in the past. As I look forward to this year, with absolutely no clue where I’ll be a year from now, it is so comforting to believe that God is just planning a party for me!

    THANK YOU! Beautiful post!

    1. Christine

      Thanks, Lindsey!!! So glad you stopped by and I’m excited to see what YOUR party is like! Keep sharing!

  2. MY party is being postponed…again. We were planning on becoming debt free, attending the Killer Tribes Conference, and releasing an ebook at the end of March. I’m still striving for 2 of 3, but today we found out my wife is losing her job.

    Another setback.

    God is good and has grand plans in store for us, so we are remaining prayerful and loyal. I know at this moment, deep down, our party is still coming.

    Just bummed out about the delays!!!
    Thanks for the post and the link!

    1. Christine

      Scott, You and your wife have worked so hard to get debt-free…this setback has got to have you saying “Come on, God!” Yet you keep on believing that your party is still coming…I SO admire that about you! And I love that part of your party is celebrating other families as they strive for financial freedom.

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