God’s been working in my heart recently and teaching me to become a There You Are person. Want to know what I mean by that term? Read on…

A few weeks ago (or maybe months…now that I have kids, time seems to go by SO fast), I read this article at the Proverbs 31 ministries site. In the article, author Jill Savage talked about being a There You Are person.

There You Are people walk into a room and look at other people. They say, “There YOU are. How are YOU doing? What’s going on in YOUR life right now?”

They make the people around them feel special. Treasured. Heard.

There You Are people are different than Here I Am people. 

Here I Am people walk into a room and make it all about themselves. They want people to notice them, make them feel comfortable, and talk to them. They say (not aloud, of course), “Here I am. Listen to what I have been doing lately. Listen to ME.”

I don’t want to be a Here I Am person anymore. 

When people see me, I don’t want them to think, “Oh great. Here comes Lindsey. I’ll get to hear more about her.”

No, when people see me coming, I want them to know without a doubt that I’ll genuinely be interested in learning about them.

Sometimes, especially on days when I feel insecure or like I don’t fit in, I get selfish.

When I walk into a room, I focus on myself.

Who can I sit with that will make me feel less awkward? Who is here that I’m comfortable with? 

Because my husband is in ministry, I spend a lot of time by myself at church. If I’m not careful, I sometimes leave church feeling sorry for myself. Why didn’t so-and-so reach out to me today? Why didn’t anyone sit by me?

I don’t even think about the fact that there might be someone there whom God wants me to reach out to…someone who needs a There You Are person to make them feel heard and loved.

Maybe it’s true that no one reached out to me when I was feeling insecure. So what? Maybe I need to reach out to them instead. Maybe I need to be a person in their life that notices them.

I hope those around me notice a difference soon. I don’t want to be a Here I Am person anymore. I’m still very flawed, but, God willing, I want to become more about YOU and less about ME.

I want to be someone who makes people feel loved, heard, and treasured.

I want to be a There You Are person. 

*Random side note: As I was writing this post, I kept thinking about this one clip from Brian Regan, a favorite comedian of ours. Brian has this clip where he talks about what he calls the “Me Monster.” It’s SO funny! So, even though this post is a pretty serious, I was laughing a lot as I wrote it, and I couldn’t end the post without suggesting you go check him out on YouTube. Seriously, he’s awesome! If you haven’t watched any of his clips, you totally should!

*Additional note: I took the summer off from writing. A much needed break. I’m back now…but won’t be as rigid with myself about posting here. I’ll still be here…but it might not be every week on Mondays like it used to be. And it might be less structured. More about what God’s doing and less about what I think I’m “supposed” to write about.