Entry 1
My name is Ashton.
I am a 24 year old artist, wife, and friend learning, growing, and doing life in The Big Apple.
I got engaged to my now husband at 21 years old on The Brooklyn Bridge while we were on a trip to visit New York City. We knew that this city was a place where we wanted to be long term, and before you knew it…we were making the jump to moving into a tiny shoebox in uptown Manhattan.
We now are nestled in the heart of Brooklyn and have yet to look back. I’m working in Arts Enrichment, auditioning from time to time, and studying toward my MA in Counseling. Ephraim, my incredible husband, works for our church and is about to begin his MBA in Accountancy — he makes up the math brains of the two of us.
While I totally have the ability to make this little life in such a happening city sound so, very perfect, wrapping it up with a cute bow to end the narrative — I’ll truthfully tell you instead that navigating through this big city living as a young, married couple after spending our entire upbringings in the Midwest has fallen nothing short of emotionally eventful. And while we truly want to be here, it hasn’t come without tribulation.
It’s been easy to feel as though you are doing everything wrong in this city when people give you a funny look as your age comes up in conversation after introducing them to your spouse or when you are sitting at a table full of young professionals from all over the world who seem to have it completely figured out.
In moments like this, my flesh so eagerly desires to lurk back into the games of comparison or destructive self talk.
Although I oftentimes still fall short into those patterns, I find it most helpful when I recall one of the attributes of The Lord for which I am most grateful.
His nearness.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
He is always near to us. No matter what city or state, no matter what age, no matter what job. He is near.
Nothing in all of creation can pull us away from His steadfast love that is better than life; better than any accolade or degree, any raise or promotion, even the most popular desires for life on earth.
As I navigate building a life, marriage, and career at a young age in a city like New York, I invite you to share with me in this journey of discovering the abundant nearness and merciful love of the Lord in the midst of it all.
