Goodbyes and Strong Ties

If I could write a post to list my favorite things about serving with a houseful of women at Living Proof Ministries, it would be the longest article in Siestaville history. And you who have been around a while and tarried over posts that scrolled down three feet long know that’s really saying something.

 

My least favorite part about serving with this staunch group of women only takes me one sentence to convey. I don’t have to mull it over. I don’t have to weigh it alongside other difficulties. It stands alone. My least favorite part is ever having to say goodbye, even when I know God has something better for that mighty woman of God. I love my coworkers like my own flesh and blood. I see them day in and day out of every single workweek. I have lunch with them and laugh with them and cry with them and serve with them and seek Jesus on my face with them. They are family to me.

 

With tenderness and tears we hugged our beloved Lindsee goodbye this week. We knew when she came, as young as she is, that this would be a pause on her path rather than God’s ultimate objective for her work life. Her dearest loves and biggest passions are singing/co-leading worship and girls’ ministry. Living Proof is a hustling bustling busy, busy place for women’s ministry: college-age to the grave. But we are unable to develop a girls’ ministry (middle school and high school) the way that it deserves to be built. It truly needs its own complete attention instead of adaptation which is what we were trying to do.

 

Thankfully, because we are so crazy about her, many of us on staff will continue to see Lindsee on a regular basis because she is in our lives and hearts and not just in our ministry. (I get to stay in ongoing touch with my beloved Michelle who served LPM for 2 years and that thought encourages me greatly right now.) Lindsee and I serve the same body of believers at church and we are personal friends and sisters. I don’t just love Lindsee at LPM. I love her anywhere. I say that with a smile.

 

The sad thing for our blog community, however, is that you won’t see her on an ongoing basis here as you have for so long. (You have a letter from her below mine.)  She has worked her tail off on this blog and told me that, when all was said and done, it had been where she’d learned and grown the most. She loves you tremendously. I do not have a big enough font or bold enough letters to express my extreme gratitude to her. She has kept this big boat afloat for three solid years.  Oh mercy, I am so thankful for her.

 

The blog will continue going because this community is one of the dearest things about Living Proof to me personally. I will be the primary (and only permanent) contributor so that means that posts may not go up as often but they will go up with much love as God impresses various things – both of a serious nature and just plain silly – on my heart. I will also have some guest posts here and there (a fun one on Monday from my friend of 34 years)  and we certainly have plans for SSMT in January.  We keep Melissa very, very busy with technical research, writing, and with Greek and Hebrew but maybe she will also write some blog articles again.

 

We also have a fun idea for some video blogs I’m going to do with questions and answers. Hopefully you will see more about that coming up very soon. Within the next week, I’ll do a post where you get to register questions and they can be ridiculous or serious. I think we will end up having some interesting conversations out of it.

 

For now, however, I want you to have an opportunity to say thank you to a young woman who has served you so well and who was thrown headlong into very large and deep waters here on this blog. She served diligently here, and courageously.

 

Lindsee Eddy, I will love you forever. Thank you so much for stopping by this big house full of women for three solid years. With everything our hearts have to give, we bless you in your journey and ministry and send you forth with loud cheers and the strong fragrance of anointing oil. We will miss your gorgeous face underneath this roof but we will see it many times in our personal friendships and relationships and church-lives with you.

 

May the Lord continue to make His face shine upon you. You are loved ferociously here at Living Proof.

 

Beth

———————————-

From Lindsee to you:

 

Yesterday I sat down with my computer, opened up a blank Word document and tried to put into words what I am feeling in my heart. Usually, the written word comes easily to me, but not so much yesterday. I struggled to write, because I’m struggling to say goodbye to a community I have fallen in love with. You can’t invest your life and your love somewhere for three years and walk away without ALL THE FEELS, as I sometimes like to say. So, today, I will try and convey ALL THE FEELS without, as Beth said, taking up five feet of blog space. As I’ve heard one wise woman say, “You don’t have to say everything to say something.” I kind of love her. If you know what ‘her’ I’m talking about. Grin.

 

A few weeks ago during our Monday staff devotional, Beth literally got us up off our feet and marched us to our downstairs lobby where she had set up a row of chairs. We were told to pick a chair, any chair, and sit in it. For you visual folk, just imagine a line of 10 chairs long, each chair facing the back of another. Our fearless leader then went on to talk about rowing, as in, row, row, row your boat. This hypothetical boat was our boat, the Living Proof Ministries boat.  A boat that we all have the honor and privilege of rowing together, not alone, and serving woman from all over. And occasionally even singing a few boat songs together along the way. (Of course I’m going to talk about singing songs. It might be my favorite part. Grin.) (And also, how many times can I use the word boat.) As usual, it was a good, convicting and edifying word that we all received very personally. The visual of acting this out was so powerful because we’re all in this boat together. We need each other and we’ve got each others’ backs. Needless to say, it resonated with us. With me.

 

Like Beth mentioned above, my heart beats for people in general, and women, but the Lord has given me a unique love for high school girls. Yes, they may be an anomaly at times, but they’re fascinating and so stinking funny if you really get the chance to just listen to them. I often say as young girls come in and out of my home, that if while they’re there I can get them at least thinking about Jesus, then I feel like I’ve struck gold. Because you talk about what you think about, which means if they’re thinking about Jesus, they’ll talk about Him.

 

And that right there is my heart. To see girls at a young age fall in love with the person of Jesus Christ.

 

I don’t know of ANY ministry that serves women of all ages like Living Proof Ministries does. They are trailblazers. They work hard. They pray hard. They play hard. And they have a leader that loves Jesus and loves people like no one else I’ve ever known. I’m forever grateful that the Lord allowed me to row the boat with this group of women for three solid years. I’ll look back on these years for the rest of my life knowing that wherever God takes me, He could not have taken me there without planting me here first.

 

But this I know right now, He’s asking me to walk on the water. Into the unknown, where I know for certain, if my eyes are on Him, He won’t let me go.

 

And if I know and have learned anything, I know I’m not alone. He’s inviting you out onto the water as well.

 

With a lump in my throat and tears on my face, I want you to hear me say thank you, dear Siestas, for letting me serve you for such a time as this. I will love YOU forever. Your faces will forever be engraved upon my heart. And your kind words will carry me for a long time. This isn’t goodbye, it’s just “see you later”!

 

I love you all so dearly.

 

I love Living Proof Ministries so dearly.

 

But most importantly, I love Jesus Christ so dearly.

Love,
Lindsee

P.S. This isn’t everyone, but this is our most recent picture. I love this Village so much. Forever in my heart.

photo-3

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156 Responses to “Goodbyes and Strong Ties”

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Comments:

  1. 151
    Sarah Marion says:

    Lindsee Lou,
    I am excited for your next steps in your life and have enjoyed getting to know you while you were at LPM. You have been a blessing to our family. We are still working on our new book and your encouraging words from our last visit keep going through my head. Thank you for your faithful service.

    Love,
    Sarah (and the rest of the motor home Marion’s)

  2. 152
    Deborah Rhodes says:

    Lindsee,

    You will be missed so very much, but I am SO excited about what God is going to do through you. My husband is a youth pastor and I work with the Middle School and High School girls in our youth group and I love them SO. I completely agree that seeing them fall in love with Jesus at a young age is so important and so amazing. We just started a Sunday morning Bible study a few weeks ago and seeing them show up early to learn the Word and seek Jesus fills my heart with emotions that I just don’t even have words for.

    Praying so many blessings on you as you step out onto that water girl!

    Deborah

  3. 153
    Jennifer Winters says:

    Hi Lindsee,

    You will be greatly missed!! Typically, I’m on here reading through posts and not commenting but I feel the need to let you know what your words have meant to me. I can remember a verse or a song you would post about that would lift my spirit and bring great encouragement to me in times of need!! God is so good!! Thank you so much for your faithfulness to serve Him and sharing this blessing with us!! I know God has great plans for you and He delights in YOU!!

    Jennifer

  4. 154
    Mindy says:

    It’s amazing how we can call someone a friend from just reading the words she writes, and you are a friend I looked forward to hearing from!! I actually missed your good-by post and emailed LPM to ask about you! I’m sad you’re saying good-by because I really have enjoyed “deepening our friendship” whenever you wrote. You have a gift, and I’m grateful you shared it with us on this blog.

    My husband and I are filling in at church until they hire a youth pastor. Teenage girls are so precious and ready for a big sister to lead them. They absolutely gravitate to women a few years ahead of them (and I am quite a few years ahead!) Thanks for reaching, leading, listening, and loving them! We all need you!

  5. 155
    Sparki2003 says:

    My dear Lindsee,

    Although I haven’t been able to stop by this precious blog as much as I’ve wanted to during the past few months; I do know how much your work here has enriched the lives of many of us ladies during these past 3 years !

    You deserve a “badge of honor”, and a “S iestaville Crown” for just being willing to moderate the comments on this blog!!! Maybe Miss Beth could find someone to create these for you ???

    I know one thing for sure, the sheer number of us reading and responding to posts on the LPM Blog has grown tremendously since you joined the team !

    You have a special gift, dear sister, for wanting to bless the younger generation ; and, I know that God will provide you with some special sort of girls’ ministry !!! I know this, because if sharing the Love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, with them is your “heart’s desire ” (and, I am quite sure it is!); then He will provide it for you in some BIG way ! We just need to wait to find out what it is . . .

    Maybe you could start a girls’ ministry blog or FB group ?

    If that were the case, I will HAVE to tell my youngest niece, Eve, about it, for sure; as she is in 8th grade this school year. However, we both live in Wisconsin ; though we live approximately 2 hours apart from one another, so I cannot be as involved in her life as I would like to be. But, praise the Lord, she has been going to a Christian school thus far ! And, the Holy Spirit came alongside the 2 of us about 6 years ago . . . and blessed me with helping guide her into a very serious prayer (especially for a little girl) into asking the Lord Jesus to come into her heart and life.

    May God Himself show you “the way” forward on your journey of life !

    However, I, like many others, will miss your presence here on the LPM Blog !

    However, I bid you “farewell”, as you go on to love on those young girls, Lindsee !

    In Christ’s Love,

    Jennifer, from southern Wisconsin

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