We went to the fall festival at our church last night. It was fun for the kids and T. and I were able to talk with some friends from college. It brought back some memories I would love to share as a testimony to God's grace and peace in my life.
When I was a freshman in college, I was still very wounded and just figuring out what it meant to have a relationship with God that affected every area of my life. I did not seem capable of any healthy relationships and God had, just a year before, taken all my friends away and allowed me a year of solitude to heal.
During that first semester, God brought three couples into my life. Danny and Daphne, James and Jennifer, and this sweet couple I was with last night.
The women were a wonderful example of generous spirits and kind words. They demonstrated stability and overall calm, mature spirits graced by close walks with the Lord. They were so godly in their relationships and I learned an endless amount by watching them.
God used the men in a truly amazing way. I had not seen very many surrendered, godly men up close. I knew God wanted me to seek that in a relationship, but I had no idea what to look for. That year God brought these three men, happy in their relationships with their wives, and future wives, to be a group of wonderful big brothers. All three took time to speak into my life in some way and let me watch their relationships with friends, God, and their loves. Their simple acts of friendship single handedly turned my thinking around. They truly ruined me for the ordinary. I now longed for the one and only man God had for me. That summer I met T. and because of the training God gave me through these couples, I was ready to see His hand and embrace the wonderful man God had for me.
So to these couples: Thanks, you are grace and peace to me. You are wonderful, amazing gifts and I still get tears in my eyes when I think of the difference your friendships made.
Because, you see, I had very little grace or peace in my life. By nature I am critical, anxious, uptight, and frustrated. But that year, through these and many other wonderful people, God began to change me.
I am very grateful that some people now see grace and peace in some of my words, but please know that is not me at all. That is a gracious God that freely gives to all who will receive.
So this award belongs to Him.
4 comments:
"God had, just a year before, taken all my friends away and allowed me a year of solitude to heal."
Have you ever seen the picture that's supposed to represent Jesus as the Good Shepherd and He has a lamb placed around His neck? That's symbolic of what you just described. When there was a wayward, rebellious sheep that would not follow the direction of the shepherd, he would take his staff and with a hard swift blow, break a leg on the wayward sheep so he/she could no longer go his/her own way. He would then gently take the wounded sheep and place it around his neck. This sheep was isolated from the rest, rescued from its destructive ways, and given time to heal by being close to the shepherd. When the bone was healed, the shepherd would set the sheep back on the ground. That sheep now was no longer wayward because it had tasted of the intimate fellowship with the shepherd. It would always stay near him. What a beautiful picture of what He does for us when we like dumb sheep want to go our own sheep. In His grace He takes a life of strife, breaks it, and brings about a life of peace.
I'm enjoying your blog. Keep writing! It's God stuff!
How beautiful and amazing, that God can use us to minister to each other when we think WE'RE the ones getting the blessing!! That's just like Him. I'm so thankful you were encouraged by our journey then, just like ya'll encourage us now. What a blessing, 10 years later, to be able to rekindle this friendship in such a precious way. Love you bunches!!
The gospel is true! We desire and need relationships. It's how we're made to be.
i love it. i am so glad that Jorge and I affected you in such a positive way! LOL! I don't even think I knew Jorge then. hehe.. me just being abnoxious. i love this post. such a reminder that God is alwasy at work in our lives..even when all is quiet. I love to look back at my "pre-married" waiting period and see that God was busy the entire time.
As always, good stuff!
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