Inspirational Profile: Emily Kooiman

There are not enough words to express the beauty of Miss Emily...

because pictures are worth a thousand words, here's another one to help prove my point: 

It's been snowing in Virginia a lot lately. 
In fact, the entire east coast is currently hibernating under a blanket of silent white. 

It's caused several days of school cancellation which means--for us dorm-residing folk at least--lots of friends and lots of procrastination. 

It also means lots of time to sit and think, and in the past few days  I've spent many hours with my dear friend Emily, and I've been so incredibly inspired by her. 

Her beauty, kind heart, and genuine longing and love for God has left me breathless. 

She carries such a joy with her where ever she goes. Which is a huge testament to the trials her Father has carried her through over the years. 

Emily has every reason to not feel joy. She has every reason to sit in bitterness continually asking why. 

But that's not her heart.
Instead she has chosen joy, so much so that her heart sings with joy.

Instead of staying in the place of asking why she has moved forward in healing, restoration and wholeness. 

 Emily has chosen Jesus over the questions and joy over confusion.   
Out of a firm knowledge of her true identity in Christ she has chosen to dance for the Father and ask others to join alongside her. 

Emily, my dearest friend, you inspire me to choose joy. You inspire me to dance, sing and praise God not because life is good but because He is good. You have been such an incredible support to me this past year and so much fun and such a joy to be around--which is exactly what I've needed. 
You love so well, care so well, and really embrace people fully for who they are.

In short, thank you friend for being so kind. Thank you for embracing me, welcoming me and loving me so well. Thank you for inviting me to rest in Jesus through your confidence in your identity in Him. 

But most of all, thank you Emily, for inspiring me to choose joy. 

I love you, dear friend. 

Love, 
Hanna


   

  

 
  

The Intimacy of Infinity

It's funny, I find that it's usually in the smallest spaces the Lord blows my mind with His massiveness.

Here I am, just curled up in my little papasan chair in my studio dorm room with some coffee and Jesus just comes and interrupts everything.

{I don't think I serve the most polite God, but definitely the most patient.}

Jesus decided to remind me of his infinity.

The little term BIGGER has been ringing through my ears a lot lately.

"Dream BIGGER"
"Love BIGGER"
"Hope BIGGER"
"Allow Me to show you that I AM BIGGER."

God told me He wants out of every restricting box I've placed Him.

It's so easy to get comfortable in our Christianity. Whether that's lounging in the armchair of liturgy, refusing to experience God intellectually and not just emotionally, or simply shutting Him up because the idea of a totally infinite God makes us control-freaks stress out.

Holy Spirit interrupted me one morning last November, too.

I woke up from having a dream about doing ministry abroad after school. Then within fifteen minutes of being out of bed, I received a random text and read a blog post all pointing towards doing international ministry, so I fell on my face surrendering all my fears and doubts of God not being able to make things happen.

He then said something that I will never forget.

"I never said I'm a comfortable God, but I AM Provider God."

He is so much bigger than our doubts, our problems, our worries, our sickness, even our own thoughts and emotions. Out of His massiveness comes great abundance and provision.

I know this seems like such an elementary truth. But do yourself a favor and ask Holy Spirit to reveal Himself to you so you can realize big He actually is.

Whatever you feel, He feels more. Whatever you think, He's thought of more. Whatever joy you've felt, sorrows you've experienced...He's experienced more.

{"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." -Heb. 4:15 (ESV) }

How? Because He's infinite. And out of His infinity He's still incredibly intimate.

His infinity allows him to love more than we could ever imagine.

Child, think on this: His love and adoration for you is infinite, His delight for you is infinite, His compassion, mercy, grace and faithfulness towards you is infinite and has no bounds.

Dwell on that truth.

{"I have loved you with an everlasting love..." Jer. 31:3 (ESV) }

Everlasting def. : lasting or enduring through all time; eternal. 

Rejoice, child, for you are loved eternally. 

And you have a Father who has chosen to be infinitely intimate.

A picture I took at the summit of Church Mountain in Washington State, one of my favorite hikes :)

Lord Jesus, your infinity and intimacy inspires me. Thank you.

-Hanna

First Inspirational Profile: Beth "Gilly" Young

I step into her home, instantly noticing the dancing sun rays streaming from her bedside window and the rays of light streaming from her incredible smile--her studio-sized room may be small but there's so much room to be yourself you don't even notice it.

"The Undoing" by Steffany Gretzinger is playing in the background and my heart is instantly at peace. She cuts up a fresh pineapple (my favorite fruit) and begins to cut into my heart with deep and much needed questions. She shares about her life...

Mississippi born and raised.
  
No wonder she brings sunshine where ever she goes. 

But she's Chicago dreaming.

Allowing the wind of Holy Spirit to take her to the Windy City.
  
Contagious smile, glorious laugh. 

She's the embodiment of love. 

 It's midnight and I just got back to my dorm room...typical. 
As I walked into my dorm building tonight, I saw that the RA had an adorable smiley-face mug full of steaming tea. I commented on it and she replied, "Thanks! Gilly brought it to me"...also typical. 

Beth talks like Jesus, walks like Jesus but most importantly loves like Jesus. 
She's one of those amazing folk who show true acts of kindness but rarely receive the honor they deserve.

So this is my small attempt to honor her because she more than deserves it. 

Beth is not only a spiritual mentor and friend, but one of my inspirations.

Her wise words, attentive ears and caring heart have inspired me to love Jesus simply because I breathe and because I can. 

 
  



























Her passion for her passions (including film, her current major and future career) cause you to sit and ask yourself why you do what you do; to evaluate the passions you've been given and ask if you're really fully embracing the gifts the Lord has given you--if you're really giving them back to Him. 

She's currently working on a feature-film, and told me the students working on the set including herself, have taken the challenge to be Jesus in attitude, kindness and professionalism. They've chosen to be the face of Jesus on in a context that is full of unbelievers...to take on the challenge of living out their faith in their profession and passion. 

The question I have is, how could you look into those twinkling eyes and not see Jesus?! 

My apologies for the blurry picture, I was laughing with her :)

Gilly, in short I want to thank you for being an inspiration to me. 

Thank you, for genuinely loving--for loving how you told me to love; not how the church too often "loves" but how Jesus loves--loving so authentic it hurts but never expecting anything in return. 

Thank you, for challenging me to give back my passions to Jesus. 

Thank you, for asking the hard questions and being able to handle and embrace the even harder answers.

Thank you, for being you, and for Speaking Life into my heart. 

I love you, friend. 

Love, Hanna

Here it goes...

WRITING.

It's a gift, and not one that I have previously claimed to possess.

For the past two years, I've felt the strange sensation to start writing outside of school and my personal journals. But I've resisted--mainly because I could hardly see the impact it could have on people other than myself.

{Fact: I'm a do-er. I'm goal orientated and have somewhat of an A-type personality. If I don't see the goal, end or result I find no purpose in the task and either never finish it or don't start it to begin with.}

Hence, you can see how doing something as superfluous as a blog (my apologies for serious bloggers, I really do highly respect you) was not at all attractive to me.

However, after two years of having the Lord nag me (in the most divine and loving way of course) and having three entirely different people from all different states (WA, CA and VA) speak directly to me saying I need to start utilizing my gift of writing I finally gave. So here it goes...I've started a blog.

You may be curious about the title. 

 

The Christianese phrase "speak life" is used in churches across the globe to talk about speaking God's truths, promises and love into our lives. It's speaking healing (physical, emotional, relational, mental), future promises and our identity in Christ over ourselves and others lives to help "us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" (Heb. 10:23).

God is faithful in his promises, and although he may not fulfill them in the time frame we hope for (something I'm definitely currently learning), he does always fulfill them.

It's come to my attention lately that I do not speak enough life.

 

In fact, I think it's safe to say that hardly any of us do. How can we? In this fallen world we're surrounded by sickness, disappointments, broken relationships, broken bank accounts, and busy schedules. I bet if you lined up all the pages I have to read for my classes in the next week they'd make it to China and back. Oh, there's also this little thing that exists called death. Can't forget that one.

However, in all this craziness of sin we have a hope...we have Jesus. The One who restores the life we currently possess and gives us eternal life after this one has run its course. Jesus is the Giver of life. GIVER. Meaning life is a gift. It's not a right--it's a privilege. It's an opportunity to glorify God and edify others despite the death that surrounds us.

Because life's a gift, I choose to give life back and to speak it over myself and others.

 

As Christ followers, all of us possess this calling to speak life over ourselves and others. Whether you're an accountant, politician or missionary it's bred into our DNA and identity as sons and daughters of the Living God.

This is a strong revelation the Lord showed me recently as he called me to Speak Life. However, he also said that comes in many forms. One form is this blog, and this blog holds the capacity for me to display how the Lord gives me life through creativity (art and photography), adventures and through others (inspirational profiles). Because Life is so much bigger than myself, I vow to not only talk about my life and my insights on this blog, because let's admit...bloggers can be highly egocentric (another reason I resisted). I am not inspired by myself, I'm inspired by my God and other people. So it is my goal for those two things to be the fundamental ingredients of my blog.

It is not my wish to be like other bloggers, so don't expect anything too ordinary...including timely posts. I'm a full-time college student heavily involved in ministry, but I want to be dedicated to this even though I don't exactly see the end result.

Thanks for stopping by, for reading my long first post, I promise they won't all be this long.

Always remember to listen, and to always speak life :)

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life." -Jesus (John 6:63)


-Hanna