“She’s my favorite!”, I gushed in a stereotypical twenty something voice to the girl sitting next to me, who had just brought up Taylor Swift. She had started the conversation and I was trying to be the good people pleaser you are when you start a new church, plus yeah I actually did like Taylor Swift.
“Yeah I like her too,” she mused, then she dead-panned me and said, “but we need to pray for her.” I sat there waiting for the ball to drop on the joke. Spoiler alert- it didn’t. Now don’t get me wrong I have no aversion to praying for anyone -including Taylor Swift, but it was hard to not stifle a laugh.
Christianity, the church and God rouse an interesting response nowadays and to be honest it’s not hard to see why. I’ve grown up in the church my whole life and my own relationship with Christ came when I finally got to seek and discover Him for myself, not what others wanted Him to be for me.
There's two main theories I operate out of when it comes to this world and my faith.
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1. You are called to be free
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The bible literally tells us this verbatim (Gal. 5:13). You were called to a life of freedom, not captivity. A life where Jesus doesn’t hold you back, but propels you forward. It also warns us that this freedom is not to use causally or carelessly, it’s to be able to love and serve others. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of this world so that you can be free. Truly free. That doesn't mean following Jesus brings you a perfect problem free life, but it means life comes with a guarantee that someone is always in your corner with you and bonus, that someone happens to be the Savior of the world.
2. God is coming for us all out of an abundance of love way before we realize or are ready for it.
My name, Dominique, literally means, “of the Lord” or “belonging to God”. My parents didn’t know this when they picked out my name, they just thought it was pretty. See I didn’t know God for myself until I was 16, but He knew me and He had literally called me His own before I even knew or wanted Him. I believe this to be true for you too - He has called you His own and He is coming after you out of an abundance of love before you even realize or are ready for it.
So here’s my promise for this space: I won’t force Jesus down your throat, I won’t tell you what you’re doing wrong, what you need to fix, etc. These are just snippets of my life. Yes my whole life belongs to Jesus and I hope you grasp his love, patience, humor, healing and power in it, but that is where my “evangelism” stops. Just enjoy this space, get curious about this guy who changes lives. I’ll be journeying right along with you - still getting curious, still making mistakes, still solid in the fact that Jesus is just about the only thing I am sure about in life.
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Ten years ago, I dumped about a page worth of words into a word doc and titled it, "Thoughts By Day". I never dreamed one day it might be something more than a private journal. It's equally exciting and terrifying to share these words, but I have found a lot of hope and healing in other's vulnerability and if I provide anyone else a smidge of that then all the scary feelings are worth it. Thanks for stopping by, I am thrilled to welcome you to this space and hope you find some joy in the present, hope in the hard places & encouragement for the road ahead!
Love,
Dominique