just as good: an open letter to my team

i don't know quite how to start if i'm honest. 

i've come to the end of seasons before - lots of them - and it never gets easier, but i think this one feels like the most abrupt one in a long time. 

or maybe ever.

granted, i don't need to tell you guys that.

still. somehow the "lasts" are all piling up and bittersweet seems too simple a word to describe this feeling. because you're my girls now. every last one of you. even those of you i don't know as well and didn't get as much time with. 

it doesn't matter.

you're still forever connected to this team and this time this summer. and that makes your lives forever entwined with mine and with each other's. 

and holy moly am i thankful for this summer. and for each and every one of you. 

what a fun ride it has been. what a gift it has been to be a part of it. all of it. the ups and the downs. the games and the goals, the songs, laughter, tears, prayers, dinners, and a long-stinkin driving tour of florida.

but i wouldn't have changed it. not a single second {except maybe the second that i smashed my phone in the van door}. because God was in and through it all. 

and i hope that is what you remember when you look back on this summer. i hope you remember that God is good now and always. i hope you remember how much he loves you. i hope you can play the beautiful game in total freedom, knowing that your worth is not dependent on how well you play. i hope you can play with joy regardless of the circumstances. that you can play with open hands for an audience of one. i hope you hold onto your ebenezer and feel the weight of it when you walk through the valleys. because he will carry you and sustain you through the valleys just as he has on the mountaintops. 

he's still just as good.

that song really has been the theme of the summer, and as soon as i started the car to leave our last team dinner last night it came on in the midst of the random mix. 

because God is in the details. 

so as you go from this place and we wrap it up and come to an end, don't forget to remember that you are seen and known by the God of the universe. and he loves you more than you will ever comprehend. 

love you all.

xoxo