Lexi Shipp is a passionate writer, speaker, and Bible teacher. With a Bachelors in Religion and Masters in Human Services Counseling, both specified in Christian Ministry, Lexi loves serving alongside her husband doing Next Gen Ministry. Working with middle and high school girls for years, she has a heart for connecting all generations of women and championing the next generation for the cause of Christ – starting within her own home as a mom. Lexi serves as a regular LifeWay Girls blogger and the Communications Team Lead for the SBC of Virginia’s Women’s Ministry. To read more of Lexi’s writings or to book her as a speaker, connect with her on Instagram @alexisleeshipp.
“There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 CSB
Driving in the car, just my husband and I, a true rarity for the season of life we’re in with small children…we of course ended up talking about them a good portion of our ride home.
At some point in the conversation, he began to talk about our dining room table. My dad is a builder, and he built it for us when we got married and moved into our home. It means so much to us and holds irreplaceable value.
Because we do everything at that table, it already has signs of love and life and usage. My husband began to explain…even though our kids have put scratches in it and we are constantly having to tell them, “Papa made this table and he worked very hard on it, we do not do this to furniture.”, those marks tell a story. That is the table where we gather together, where we talk about our day, where I will guide them in home education, where we will continue to play games and share family meals and host others. They are being built there, and it will continue to tell the story of our children and our family. Those lines in the wood will one day be precious reminders of the days when our babies were young.
As he shared this, I thought about a particular scar on my own body from when I received chemotherapy as a teenager. Just like the marks on our dining room table make it imperfect but hold valuable meaning and tell a story – so does my scar. Praise God for His healing work!
Each season marks us, good or bad, and shapes us. Those marks tell us, and the watching world, a story. Our marks give us a way of telling the greater story of the Gospel.
Just like my table that bares signs of love and life and usage, as we love, as we live, as we allow God to use us…we will inevitably bear signs of it as well.
