“Today will be the last Show Us Your life for a few weeks. I really enjoy these Fridays and I hope ya'll do too! But I need to get a fresh set of topics and just take a little break. We will start back in September. If you have a suggestion for a Friday theme - please leave it in the comments! You can find most of the past ones (and I'll try to get it updated with the rest soon) at
www.kellyskornershowusyourlife.blogspot.com” – Kelly’s Korner
I was raised in a Christian home, and as the youngest daughter, I saw at one time or another all of my sisters baptized. According to my Mom, our family began attending church shortly after my birth, and my Dad was saved when I was a small child. All of my early memories are of church, Ms. Ivy teaching Bible verses, Mom writing each of us a tithing check every Sunday morning, the bus ride to church, and hearing about sweet Jesus.
When I was five or six, I remember asking Jesus to save me. My parents stood in our small kitchen and dining area, the small yellow café curtains let in a beautiful light, and I told my parents the decision I had made. I loved reading my Bible and learning verses. I was active in church until my junior or early senior year of high school. There was a lot going on at home, and I really began to struggle in my Christian walk. I still believed in God, but felt I didn’t fit in.
I went to college and became involved in the Baptist Student Ministry, where I came to love international students. Even though I read my Bible, attended church often, but not regularly, and said I was a Christian, I had no idea what it meant to grow in Christ. I still struggled. At the same time, even though I was in college, my family life still overshadowed more than most days. During college I was baptized since I had known for years God was convicting me of this and drawing me to public confession.
Two years later, after graduating college, God and I had a heart to heart, if you know what I mean. It was pretty rough, but in all the pain of letting go, really letting go, God softly and gently lifted me up. He told me about His love and dying to myself, He built me up in His love, and He became my Kinsmen Redeemer. I didn’t want anything else. Since I always seemed to put dating before God, I decided to stop dating and really just live like I was meant to be single, open to whatever God had for me each day.
The next 9 months lead me to fasting and praying for a job, direction and trusting God. That was the best time of my life. I met my husband in January 2004, and our first date consisted of me talking for hours outside my parent’s house about how much I love God. We married in September 2005, and as with marriage, we quickly learned how selfish we were. Fast forwarding to today: Justin realized he wasn’t really saved, and in October he became a Christian, and last Sunday he was baptized! We are approaching five years of marriage and I am so grateful to God! The past four years have not been easy for me, as I often describe being in the desert. However, Justin’s baptism puts the icing on the cake and makes the past four years sweet, instead of tolerable. It really puts into perspective how God has a plan for you, me, my family, your family. God knew what He wanted to accomplish the day Justin said we were moving. He knew what a wonderful joyful baby girl would bring to our lives two years ago when we read “positive”. He knew the nasty fights we would have, the bitterness in my heart, the lack of leadership, the lost feeling, the surplus, the loneliness, the neighbors, the friendships, the giving, the taking, simply everything would lead us, a married couple with two children, to this place this day. He wanted me. God wants to purify me to be more like Him. He wants that from Justin. He wants that from all of His children. The past year has been the most radical refinement, and when it started I knew it was going to be hard but God has shown us what is really important.
I am a sinner. My ways are not perfect, and at time I have had to take radical steps so that my sin or this “world” will not hold me down. God is everything to me and without him I would be lost. God is so good, and He does, He does bring healing and change. I could write for days about the change I have seen first hand in my dad, friends, and neighbors. He also brings hope to the empty arms, the hungry, the discouraged. I have seen it! He is good! Sometimes we walk in the valley, full and well cared. Other times we are laid raw in the desert waiting for a downpour. You are not alone. I want everyone to know you are not alone in your situation and it is not too messy or complicated to overcome with a relationship in Christ. He’s that good!
No comments:
Post a Comment