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A few weeks ago, my pastor invited people in the congregation to briefly share stories of God’s grace during the evening prayer service— “Let our eyes be sensitive to the marks of God’s grace in our every day lives.” This is something I try to practice anyway (remember the Grace Gifts list?), but I’ve fallen off recently. A busy life crowds out a quiet, grateful spirit. Just another reason to slow down.
When Mark asked for stories, though, I didn’t have to think twice about what I wanted to share. It’s less of a story and more of a description, though. Less about an even, more about a person.
My roommate, Lindsey, is perhaps the sweetest evidence of God’s grace and kindness toward me in the past year. We celebrated one year of living in our house the weekend before last— we went to dinner, brought our calendars, looked back over our year of living together, and thanked God for all the ways He has proven His faithfulness to us in the time we’ve lived together.
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Lindsey fell into my life last August, almost by accident. In the course of ten days I went from near-despair in my house-hunting efforts (and not even ready to begin thinking about roommates), to a certain place to live, excellent landlords, a signed lease, and the best roommate I could ever wish for. We didn’t know one another well at all before we moved into our sweet home, but Lindsey has been a constant source of grace and kindness in my life since. A few particulars:
- Lindsey is, perhaps, the most gracious person I have ever met. She puts up with my quirks and idiosyncrasies, continues to care well for me in spite of my forgetfulness (and sometimes lazy attitude) toward household chores, and is understanding of my crazy life and work schedule. She is faithful to confront sin in my life, but always with gentleness and care.
- Lindsey always speaks truth into my discouragements. We are both verbal processors, and we talk nearly every night. Whenever I struggle with doubts about God’s character or work in my life, a challenging friendship, sin that I’m dealing with, or even just normal day-to-day frustrations, she listens carefully, and then gives a quiet, steady, Gospel-saturated response. She always reminds me that God is kind, and gentle, and faithful, and trustworthy.
- Lindsey is thoughtful and intentional about caring well for the people in her life. She cares well for me, and I see that in our every day lives as roommates, but she also cares well for the dozens of other people in her life. She often spends her lunch breaks with girlfriends that need to talk, or with married women who love her. She is a woman “given to hospitality,” and takes delight in making our house into a home and inviting people into it.
- Lindsey is abundantly generous in her service to others. She makes meals for friends, she babysits children, she runs errands, she invites people into our home, she hosts events for others, she is thoughtful about the way she says things or who she spends time with, always seeking to benefit the other person.
- Lindsey has faced some very hard things in her life, but her faith in God’s sovereignty and goodness never waver. She has a deep, steady confidence in God, the kind of confidence that only comes through testing. James 1:2-4 describes Lindsey— steadfastness has had it’s full effect, and she is perfectly complete in Christ, lacking nothing.
- Lindsey loves to laugh and have fun, and takes great delight in little things in life. She’s intensely serious about the things that matter (the Gospel), but also enjoys life and lives it to the fullest. Her joy in life make every day sweet.
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that truly is wonderful! experiencing God’s grace through others draws us all closer to Him + thanks for sharing
This is beautifully written, Sarah. What a blessing.
Beautifully written post, Sarah! I want to keep some of these quotes to meditate on because they are thought-provoking and poetic.
I love this post but really… nachos and guacamole… ?? c’mon… I’m so hungry right now, it look gooood.
AMEN. You are absolutely right on all of these! Lindsey is always able to speak such truth into my life, always filled with such wisdom. The Lord definitely has I’m sure blessed each of you through your wonderful rooming situation, but has used you two’s hospitality to bless so many others. So thankful for y’all!
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