the details of life

I firmly believe that God directs every single detail of the paths of our lives, to be and go exactly where He intended us to go and to end up, even with the "free will" we have, exactly where He wants us to end up. It's pretty neat to look back and see that, while we made certain decisions, His fingerprints are all over our paths. This past week, as reflections from the past year or so were discussed, I was blown away at His incredible attention to the details.... :) 


[to see what I mean, keep reading]


September 2009.
   One and a half years ago...

...Lane and I hunted each other down after a Shane & Shane concert so we could take this picture. We had texted throughout the entire concert, and I'm sure I was more focused on the phone conversation than on the stage. We'd been friends since earlier that summer, after we'd been introduced a 2nd time (I actually didn't remember meeting him the first time. oops. lol). From June to September we became really good friends. Best friends. We'd talked about everything under the sun, from relationships to family to school to Jesus to other life things. There was this crazy amount of transparency in our conversations, and our communication was unbelievable.  As I look back at that time in our friendship, I remember how easy it was to talk to him, and how he was the first guy I'd been friends with in a long time where I felt like I could speak my mind and heart, and never feel like he was going to shoot me down or make fun of my ideas and the things that were important to me. He listened. And yet, he also gave his opinion and talked about things in his life. And he made me laugh. A lot. His humor and wit were a staple in our friendship and he had this way of making my days better. Our friendship was something really special. 


[And I secretly thought he was cute.] :)




March 2010. Our first picture together as a couple. 
   One year ago...

...I had just gotten back from a Mavs game in Dallas with my family. Lane and I had been texting throughout the game. I remember being overly concerned that my phone was going to die in the middle of our convo, and made sure to plug it in as soon as we got in the car. Haha! I was being kind of cautious with him because a week prior we had talked about how we wanted to hang out and he made it pretty clear that he just wanted a friendship (he had gotten out of a relationship a little over a month before). It really hadn't crossed my mind to be anything more than friends, but after his comment, it seemed to stick in my thoughts. During our Mavs game convo, the subject of hanging out was brought up again. Part of me wanted to find an excuse so as to avoid the same type of conversation that we'd had the week before, but the other part of me really wanted to see and hang out with my friend. :) We decided to hang out on Sunday, as he would be passing through my town anyway on his way from his parents house back to ETBU. It was spring break, but he had to work so he was heading back to campus. 


I remember being a little nervous waiting on him to get there, but I quickly pep-talked myself into chill mode. :) After all, we were just friends, and had been for a while, and he'd already made the comment about hanging out as friends (yes, he only mentioned it once, but for a girl - once it's said, it's stuck in our minds. ridiculous, i know. ha.).


Long story made short - Lane showed up and we laughed and talked for several hours. And by several, I actually mean like 8. I don't even remember if we moved from where we were sitting, or if we even ate supper. Haha. It was one my most favorite days. :) But the cool part - was that in the middle of our conversation, it was like God was just ever-present, controlling our convo and bringing up random topics and things we had in common that proved to be part of the "little details" thing I mentioned at the beginning. 


[And that was just day one.] 


The rest of the week was spent laughing and talking and watching movies and cooking and learning about each other. Our communication was impeccable! I'd definitely rate it in my top 5 spring breaks in my life. I won't bore you with all the little details about our first week together, but I will say that it was amazing to watch God break down barriers in both of our hearts, heal broken wounds, and I'm pretty sure we said "this is crazy!" 15 thousand times as we watched Him intricately develop our friendship into a relationship. As much as we tried, we couldn't really put into words the cool stuff He was doing with us. :) 


[and over the next few months, I fell in love. beautiful, perfect, fun love. (seriously)]


March 2011. Our most recent picture together.
   One year later...

...and I still catch myself saying "this is crazy" sometimes. Because we love being together, and hanging out with each other watching movies or playing Super Nintendo or other things that most people would consider boring or lame. But we like them and we have fun :) And we don't fight or argue (in fact, we were talking this week about how while there are things we have disagreed on, we've never gotten into an argument about them. it's crazy, i know, but it's SO really cool, too!).  And we love talking to one another. And we love being in love. And I still can't explain our relationship in words that you'd understand. And I still love this man a ridiculous amount. And he still makes me laugh - a lot. (And, every once in a while, I get to be the funny one, and he laughs at something I've said. But this has only happened like 3 times in the past year. Ha.) And our communication is still awesome. I could sit here and give you tons of examples, and ways in which communication has been the key to our relationship, but instead let me just say that other than Jesus and humor, communication is definitely in the top 3 of why we get to fall in love every day. :) 


[I'll move on and not bore you with more mushy gushy stuff about how much I love Lane Patrick McClung, and list all the reasons why. I'm pretty sure if you've been around either of us for very long, you kinda pick up on the fact that we kinda like being around each other, and we kinda enjoy each other, and we kinda love each other. :)]


And about all the little intricate details that God keeps using to pave our paths... well, they keep popping up everywhere, and blowing my mind. And then, this morning as I was getting ready, I was reminded again of exactly how important details are to God...

      "The Lord directs the steps of the godly.

      He delights in every detail of their lives" [PSalm 37:23]

[Mmm...so so good. :)]


And the cool thing is that this is just one small example from my life of the "little details" that He has used. I could write post after post about His attention to things. :)


So...sign me up for another year :) I can't imagine what else You have in store for me. Surely it can't get much better than this. 


And bring on the little details :) I'm ready.