Are You Being Made Well?

This post comes with a bit of a preface:

I have found myself a part of a launch team for Jenny Simmons new book, Made Well. Outside of receiving the book to review and help promote, I get nothing from this (monetary wise, I got A LOT from this book in many other ways). These are my actual person thoughts about a book I so happen to LOVE. So, once you finish reading, check out Madewellbook.com, pre-order today and you will be entered to win a ton of great prizes, on top of receiving an amazing book!

Back to my post:

Are you being made well?

well. whole. complete.

While there are nuggets of wisdom scattering throughout the entire book (as well as a great story about being fist deep in worm poop, y'all, I cannot make that up!), I am going to focus on one particular section that resonated with me the other day.

As most people who will read my blog know, I recently have made a huge change in my life. I have moved. Twice. Once from my college, back to my hometown, then again from my home town to Michigan (about 1,200 miles away... or a 25 hour drive in a uhaul). I loved my school. I mean I LOVED my school. I kind of didn't want to move home. And then I loved being home, and I kind of didn't want to move to Michigan. But here I am, sitting in a Starbucks on a cool (basically Florida winter...) fall day, in a town in Michigan. And if you know me at all, or go back and read anything I've posted, you will see a reoccurring theme: I AM A CREATURE OF HABIT. The times I feel the most restless or lost are when  major changes are being made in my life. I was doing pretty well with this whole moving a million times (I love exaggerating) thing until, some things in Michigan did not go the way I planned. I needed to heal a bit. I needed my places, my people, my familiar sights. Alas, I had none. Or so I thought. Cue "Made Well" 

I have my typical places of healing (as I suspect everyone does).

In no particular order:

The beach in my hometown.

Currahee Mountain  watching the sunrise with my roomie.

An Eno with a book and my bestie

Drinking coffee at Java Station with my earbuds playing Ellie Holcomb.

"My" chair, under a blanket, my dog, and a Netflix marathon

These are highly specific places, with specific people. And it just so happens I have found myself without all of those places or people. So how am I supposed to be made well!?

"I used to think [being made well] could only happen with a bible in hand, 

wrestling over Scripture verses or on an exotic trip. 

But now I know if my eyes are open,

 I experience peace that passes understanding in a myriad of places." 

- "Made well" Pg. 93. 

Being made well can happen any time, any place.

I find myself sitting in a Starbucks in my new little home base in Michigan, with my earbuds in listening to Ellie Holcomb. Its not Java station, but I am still being made well. My chair now has a new home, placed in my boyfriends apartment, and I read part of made well there with a Greys marathon playing in the background. And while the chair doesn't belong there, I was still being made well. I got to facetime with my best friend for an hour, and while we weren't in our ENOs, I was still being made well.

What I am realizing is that I may not need those specific places I used to go to be made well. What I really need is a heart that is willing to being made well, and the places will come to me. They make look different than what I am used to, or what I really want. But the process of being made well is all the same.

"Healing doesn't always come right away, or right on time for that matter. It certainly doesn't always show up in big, flashy brushstrokes like front-row concert tickets, But sometimes it does. The important thing is to keep your eyes and heart open, knowing that healing avenues are at work all around you; they belong to you if you claim them."

- "Made well" Pg. 94.

Here's to being made well.