Highly Recommended.

I would like to write a lovely post about things God is teaching me right now and how good He is. He is SOOOOOOOOO good, that is for sure. And He is also teaching me things, but I am not very good at learning them often. And for some reason haven't been in a good blog-writing mood about them... hopefully soon!

However, I have a beautiful mentor-and-amazing-friend named Mary W. (as to distinguish her from Mary G., aka Mayr, my bosom buddy who is also beautiful and amazing). She wrote a pretty-freaking-awesome post about Jesus and listening to Him today that I highly recommend you read. It's not too long but it is convicting and genuine. So go read it here! :-)

...

OK, this really was going to be a short post just recommending her post. But I can't really just drop the name "Mary W." without going on for awhile.

So, a little context...

I often find myself actively wishing that everyone got to have Mary W or someone exactly like her in their life. She is, quite simply, nothing short of incredible.

She has shared her life with me and invested ri-di-culous amounts of time, love, and prayer into mine since she was 19 and I was an awkward high school freshman. Now I am 20 (weird!) and she is 24 and she is still one of my best friends. 

She loves God with her whole self and lets Him work through her. She sees the good in everyone she meets and makes sure they know it. She tirelessly encourages, listens, prays, and shares wisdom with so much authenticity, humility, and enjoyment in others. She is one of the first people I learned how to be "not okay" around and her safety and support have strengthened me (and so many others) through our hardest times. She is beautiful in every sense of the word and has been more of a shaping influence in my life than almost anyone.

(Also, one time she bought us best friend key chains shaped like monkeys.)

I feel speechlessly lucky that I get to know her and have a friendship with her, and I wish that you could too (if you don't, which there are good odds you do if you are reading this blog!). But at least now you can read her wisdom.

This was taken when I was a junior... if you're wondering why she is smiling SO big it's because she and Wolf had started dating 2 days before!! (And then they left the next day for a CpR retreat and couldn't have a real conversation for three days. That's dedication.)

The night before their wedding! (Mary's husband is special, but we love him.)

Beautiful.