Hello, friend!! Really, I wish I could meet you in person today instead of through a screen - I wish we could get coffee perhaps, or tea. I wish we could go on a walk! Watch the sky change at sunset, bake break-apart cookies and eat some pizza. 

 

I wish I could hear of your heart and learn of your story - of your perfect day and your perfect date and what Ted Talk you might give if presented the chance? Maybe of your favorite candy on hard days and your favorite color of balloons, your preference for morning versus night and your bravest moment yet? Someday we will meet, we can share. I can’t wait!  

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For now, here’s a little about me:

I’m Sarah Nichole Steinmann (Nichole with an “h” since Sarah has one too). While I am awful at directions and get lost approximately every place I go (I got lost in the Business School at A&M last night, no joke), I deeply believe in a True North and think my favorite conversations involve figuring this out. My friends tease me about always speaking in analogies and being “symbolic” in my instagram posts—but really, I do think the world is fueled by stories with Hope woven in. I want to play a role in telling these stories. 

 

As someone who loves words, what I have allowed to run through my mind has had great impact on my heart: I have been shaped by countless books and narratives - by the passages of Scripture I know by heart and the lyrics of songs that play on repeat in my mind. 

 

Here are some words that have profoundly shaped my heart - read them slowly: 

 

"It’s resistance. It’s a resistance of the false and broken to embrace and practice the true and the whole. We are prophesying with our lives. In the face of poverty, we practice generosity. In the face of ugliness, we practice beauty. In the face of injustice, we practice justice and mercy. In the rhetoric of fear, we declare 'be not afraid!' In the face of racism, we practice reconciliation. In the face of despair, we practice hope. In the face of ignorance, we practice wisdom and knowledge. We name it, we aren’t afraid of it, and then while the Not-Yet looks on in disbelief at our cheek, we set to work putting things as they are-and-will-be."

 

And another: "Sometimes smiling is an act of defiance against what’s pressing down hard. Sometimes smiling is an act of sheer bravery. Sometimes smiling in brokenness is how we remember: We are the Resurrection People & there is more happening that what seems & we practice our faith. Practice Smiling. PRACTICE JOY. Practice counting gifts. Joy is a habit: wear it."

 

And lastly, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has give us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that  that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 

 

I think kindness changes the whole world, I am still wrestling with grace, and I am captivated by the idea of a God who loves recklessly. I want to be a joy subversive, a rebel for peace, a fighter for hope, a bringer of light against the darkness. Or, my deepest prayer is for these words to be true: I know the hypocrisy deep in my heart. Nevertheless, I’ve committed my life to following after Jesus, which basically means that I think that following God is the best option in the books. I think following God is like finding a treasure of infinite value in a field and selling the meager things I own to buy it. I’d love to tell you why someday.  

 

I wrote for a paper once that I want to make my life a banner waving, “There's hope! You belong! Come find rest in Jesus!" - and I'm hoping this blog here does a little bit of that in this space of the internet. Thanks for reading! 

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