Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Dear 2013,

2013
You were beautiful.

This past year has taught me so much.
I've graduated from a wonderful school that I've called home 
for 13 years with people I consider family, 
Been accepted to my dream college and scholarship program, 
Fallen in love with academics and education all over again, 
Discovered a passion for writing,
Met people who have truly and permanently changed my life, 
Grown up, 
much too much,
 much too fast, 
Made some of the hardest choices of my life so far, 
Taken countless leaps of faith trusting God's ever abounding safety net to catch me, 
Learned more about myself than I ever could have dreamed, 
And have encountered true passion in it's purest form more times than I could possibly count. 

But most importantly, 
I've grown tremendously in my faith over the last year. 
There's nothing I want more than to be used for the work of His kingdom. 
I hope to look back, 
365 days from now,
Knowing I lived every day seeking after ways I could serve Him. 

I've struggled with allowing anxiety to overtake everything else in my life for a very long time. 
But I'm learning to be still, 
To listen, 
To trust God to take me where my faith is without borders.

As of right now, 
9:36 PM
December 31, 2013, 
I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life. 
I don't know what I should major in, 
Or where God wants to use me. 
I don't know where I'm going, 
Or what exactly what I should be working towards in 2014.
What I do know,
I want more of you God. 


2013, 
you were incredible.
I've been blessed beyond measure. 
But honestly, 
you were about me. 
2014 will be about HIM. 

I'm so thankful for this past year and everyone who has touched it. 
Wishing you and your loved ones every happiness in this new year. 

With all my love, Meg



Monday, December 9, 2013

Dear Soul Sister,

When I read your letters, 
My heart feels so close to yours.
The strength you've found in words surpasses that of anyone I've ever met.  
Your passion is so present it's practically tangible. 

Your passion breathes life into fury, 
into incredulity, 
into restlessness, 
discomfort, 
and maybe even one day, 
change.

People so often want to turn away or ignore the things they find uncomfortable, 
or are "too big" for them to fix or handle. 

They want to silence the screams heard by the Red Light District girls by getting far enough away so they can't hear them,
rather than quieting their ever pounding hearts with something that will show them someone cares for them. 
Can we help them?
Even if it seems like there is nothing we are capable of that would make a consequential impact, 

I sure am glad that's not how God looks at us.
I'm glad He doesn't look at the muck and the mire of our sin and say
"Well, they're never going to be worthy of me, 
 they'll always be overcome by their own selfishness.
What difference will loving them make?" 
Loving them,
Just loving them. 

You've written letters to the perfect summer girls on the beach, 
With sun-drenched smiles masking insecurity.
Society would recoil from the suggestion for girls to "let their bellies out"
They would never tell us that exhaling and finding comfort in the way that we are
would not result in everyone running away in fear or drenching us in judgement.
They would never reveal that someone gave their last breath for every girl to have the chance to celebrate their imperfections and rejoice over their bodies because they are temples of the Most High God. 

You've shared the stories of Soraya M, the Sweet Stranger, A Baby Girl of Kensington, and Trucker Mouth Mama, 
making me cold down to the inside of my bones.
Their stories are gut wrenching.
My heart broke over and over again with every line. 
Your words resonate so long after reading them. 
I find myself thinking of these women you've introduced me to throughout the day, 
praying for them, 
wishing I could pour God's love out to them the way you have. 

You've reprimanded words themselves for not understanding the expectations they set, 
and spoken deep into my soul about the power of seeking control.
But what I feel is the most powerful letter you've yet to write was to the arrested pimps and rescued children. 

Soul Sister, 
It is a gift to have the ability to make the audience feel what others feel, 
that's what a true artist does, 
they convey emotion.
Raw emotion.
That grates and scrapes the inside of their guts, 
that rubs their throats raw as they consume the words you've written, 
that brings anguish and grief with the closing lines, 
making the audience, 
in that moment feel even the slightest fraction of what those children felt, 
what their parents felt...

Your gift is going to evoke change. 
Passion is what sparks movement.
Progressive movement that impacts, 
relentlessly, 
until a difference is made. 

You are filled with this jarring honesty. 
"There's no lie in her fire" 
Your fearlessness…
I wish I had the strength to write to that torn curtain of the temple, 
or to the lioness.
If I could muster even a fraction of your strength, 
maybe I, 
like you,
 could be used to pour God's love out to the broken hearted. 

If only I was strong enough to write out my heart to the Father's Son,
If I had the courage to tell him how I cried for hours after reading your letter to him, 
If I could find the intrepidity to tell stories like his the way you have…

I truly believe you are my Soul Sister.
Your voice is so much stronger, 
and your beautifully raw words are inflamed with an unquenchable passion that moved under my skin and spreads like wildfire catching every single nerve and setting them ablaze. 
But your heart beats with the breaking of mine. 
Your words speak directly into the furthest corners, 
seeking out and illuminating everything I attempt to repress. 
Challenging me, 
Encouraging me, 
Calling me to act. 

Thank you so much for sharing the stories you've encountered.
Thank you for your bravery, 
and for your passion. 

Your words hold the power to set the world on fire. 

With all my love, Meg 


P.S. Please Please PLEASE do not deprive yourself of the opportunity to read these incredible letters! 
Check out Sincerely, Your Soul Sister at 

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Dear Mistress of Elusion,

I wish I could breathe poetry.
Fill my lungs to the maximum capacity with metaphor and simile, 
and exhale winding graceful verses, 
inflamed with raw emotion.

I wish I could bleed out all of the word I want to say.
Slash my porcelain skin and let the scarlet speak for itself. 
Show you exactly what is written all over my fractured heart.

I wish every blink of my eyes, 
every small step, 
every gesture, 
would reveal the words I so desperately wish I could articulate.

But this Mistress of Elusion stands in my way.

I know the game you play.
You shamelessly flirt with the tip of my tongue, 
coyly revealing just a little, 
but never enough.

Like the most artful pick-pocketer, 
In just a second lost in contemplation, 
You snatch the words right out of my mouth. 

Mistress of Elusion, 
You are a wretched scarlet woman, 
and you are killing me. 

With every word that goes unsaid, 
with every word that you stifle,
another line forms, 
another bag finds rest under my eyes, 
another stress ulcer forms, 
and yet another hour of sleep is lost.

You toy with my mind, 
Dance back and forth with it, 
teetering between what I should bring to life with my lips, 
and what I should leave buried deep in the abysmal depths of my disheveled mind. 
You think it is a game, 
And to you it is 

You are reckless. 
You are filthy.
You are selfish.
I despise you with every fiber of my being.

The heavy words you hold captive have such potential.
They could soften heartache and silence shudders of emotion.
They could shed light on so many questions I just couldn't find the words to answer. 
They could change everything. 
Or maybe nothing at all…

Because of you I'll never know. 

If I could meet you face to face, 
I'd tell you just how much I hate you.
I'd tell you of all the distress you've inflicted on me and the ones I love,
How you've brought so many beautiful things to ruin, 
I'd show you faces of all of the people you've hurt.
And tell you of the countless tears you've provoked. 

I'm sitting here typing furiously, 
flushed with rage and pure unadulterated hatred of all the pain you've inflicted. 
But as I read over this fragmented letter, 
I've become wrought with the realization that if I was to meet the Mistress of Elusion face to face, 
I'd be looking in a mirror. 

It's me who has broken hearts and brought ruin to lives.
It's me who has stifled potential. 
It's me who has stood in my own way.

I hope one day the countless people I've hurt will find some place in their hearts to forgive me.
Know there is nothing I wouldn't do to remedy the ruin. 

I am so deeply sorry. 

With all my love, Meg