So most of you know I took a trip to Portland a couple of weeks ago. I started thinking about it over the summer, and had been talking to friends there about it. I found cheap tickets and decided to just do it.
If y’all remember when I posted last year about my trip to P-town for Katie’s wedding you remember that the Lord started redeeming the place for me. So much of what I have to say about this trip revolves around that same work. You see the Lord continued that redeeming work this trip. So much so that if you saw my last picture from the trip on instagram I hashtagged “if your weather was better I might move back.” Before this these last two trips that was not something I would ever dream to think about again. Even if I knew the Lord was calling me back there, before these two trips I probably would not have listened.
This trip was so good for my soul. It wasn’t that we went out here or there, did this or that, because we didn’t do much. I was simply content to just sit with my friends and talk, and have deep conversations about life, the Lord, and whatever else. And those conversations and time were what was good for my soul.
Most of you know I’m not the biggest talker on the block. I prefer to let other people do the talking and interject little bits and pieces. There are times when I can talk a lot, but that’s not the norm. So yes it may seem a little weird that a trip where the bulk of the time was spent having conversations was a good time for me. But let me explain…
So the entire 3 years I lived in Portland, I was plagued with insecurities, and believed so many lies from the enemy. These insecurities and lies I was believing affected (effected? I.d.k. the right one to use) the way I viewed my friendships there. So much so that when I moved away it still changed the way I viewed the friendships.
But these last 4 years in Texas have been a time of major growth for me in moving past my insecurities, and in not believing the same lies from the enemy. Not that I don’t still have insecurities, and don’t still believe lies from the enemy at times. But I have grown a ton.
And so when the Lord started redeeming Portland for me last year I was able to see the truth about the friendships that I had there. That they were real, that they were deep, and they were good. So when it came to this trip the Lord completely blew me away with the truth. And so just sitting around talking and having deep conversations was good. I didn’t need an event or activity to help take up some of the time, or be a buffer when hanging out with friends. I could just sit, relax, and enjoy talking with friends. I got to share about my life here in Texas, and about my work, and I got to hear about their lives in Portland, how they’ve changed since I lived there, about their new jobs, whatever.
In my next post I’ll do a trip recap and share some pictures. I just needed to document, mostly to be able to thank Him, the work the Lord has done in my life, and the blessing from him of this trip being so good for my soul.
Juliann The Texan 