sheville

I mentioned long ago that Chesapeake only has about 6 girl leaders Jenn, Ally Katie, Libby, Sarah and myself a small community but it is made HUGE in the summer when we add Alex b, Alex q, Katie m, Shannon l, Becca f, Cristina m, allison m, leslie b, ariel s, and others.

Every week, once a week (typically after club during the year) the girls gather together either at Libby's house or mine to have Sheville.
People tell me often that I am SO lucky to be on young life staff in Chesapeake and I agreed, mostly this is due to the depth of our community here and this depth is because of Christ and how He has moved and allowed us to have this time together as girls.
Every week we get together and talk about how the Lord is shaping us, the hard, the good, the ministry, tears are shed, laughs are heard and encouragement is plentiful. I have never been a part of something like this, so precious and so life giving.
It could be SO incredibly easy for me to sit in that room and think "I am the staff person, these are our volunteer leaders I need to act ok, like I am not hurting or maybe even joyful" but the Lord has instilled such a realness in this time and in my heart that I could NEVER do that.

This past wednesday I shared so much of my heart with a room of 10 girls some of whom I just met in January some even May! As I sat crying on a sofa these girls loved me, Christ loved me through them, and I felt the burdens of the world slowly being taken from me and put on the shoulders of my Jesus. These girls I have known for such a short period have quickly become some of my closest friends in the world. They always tease me and affirm me telling me that "just everyone loves you Katie" or "so many people know you Katie" I of course deny this because it isn't true but think how I don't care, I love that you all know me and you all know me better than anyone. So if any of them read this thank you, thank you for introducing me to sheville to depth, to your hearts, to realness as women of Christ, for always telling me I'm wise, that I'm worth it, that I am needed, that I'm funny, that I'm sweet, that I am loved. I pray one day I will believe all the sweet sweet things you all say about me until then know you all are so extremely precious to my heart and I wish I could write a post about each one of you and maybe one day I will be able to.
For now, thank you I love each of you.