I’m back!!! I told you it may not be too often, but I am
here and ready to go…
It is my last full semester as a college student and I
decided to overload myself with enrolling in twenty hours…I know, right? But on
a positive note there is light at the end of the tunnel as I anxiously
anticipate receiving a diploma in July. Although I am loving ALMOST all of my
classes, what would college be if there weren’t those one or two courses that
really stretched you??? Oh you know which ones I am talking about… the ones
that keep you ordering the venti instead of the grande at starbucks. Yes, pick
me… right here!!I have one of those classes this semester. It is my research and
ethics class. We have been researching journal articles related to Family and
Consumer Science to write our individual review of literature papers. At the
beginning of each journal article there is an abstract. An abstract is a brief
summary that appears at the beginning of an article that is used as a point of
entry. It also helps define the papers purpose. Well, in my first post I told
you I would be an open book so here I am trying to stand on my word. I would
like to establish my blog with giving you an abstract or introduction of how I
came to know Jesus Christ as my intimate Father, Savior, and Friend! It may not
be brief ;) but it will most definitely reveal to you what I believe, the
foundation which I stand upon, and my purpose here on earth.
First and foremost I am believer and follower of our
precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I was a Christian my whole life…or at
least I always thought I was. I grew up in a Christian home, went to church
every Sunday, and had high enough morals and conviction that I didn’t do
anything too bad. It was either that
or I was terrified to do something to disappoint my parents. One day my world
was shaken. At the time I was so hurt I
couldn’t see how something that bad could
be used for something so good. It was
an ordinary night when I encountered the sweet embrace of Jesus and learned
what saving grace was. I realized if I wanted to be a follower of Jesus Christ
I had to die to my flesh and my plans and submit to HIS. It was no longer about
my family… I realized on judgment day my parents could not get me into heaven. I
would stand before a Righteous, Holy God and he would either tell me to enter
or depart (Matthew 7:21-23). It was no longer about just going to church… I
realized I never had an intimate relationship with God or even knew what
pleased him. It was no longer about being a good
enough person…just because I was a good person with a good will did not
mean I would inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. It wasn’t until I was completely ridded
of myself and broken that I realized I couldn’t put me back together…nor did I
want too. I didn’t just want a change I wanted a transformation. I wanted a new
heart. There was no power inside of me that could pick up the crumbled pieces
of my life. I needed a Savior. I thought I needed to get my life together
before I could go before the PERFECT king and ask for his forgiveness…boy, was
I wrong. It is when I realized I could go to him broken, shattered, and
weak…just as I was and he could and would completely restore me. Only HE could
pick up the ashes in my life and make them beautiful. Only he could fill the
voids in my heart. Only He could satisfy my deepest longings and desires.
You see… I had found
this love, an earthly love and I thought it was everything I had ever wanted. I
was engaged at twenty and all my dreams where coming true. I was a sophomore in
college and at this point in my life I was not walking alongside with the Lord.
It was not a God glorifying relationship and I never once prayed about this
life altering decision. I was making my own choices and living for myself. I
knew I was in love and there was nothing stopping me. Then one day God called
for this relationship to be sacrificed…ALL of it. No wedding. No Fiance.
Nothing. If God loved me he surely wouldn’t hurt me like that, right? I was so
wrong. It was because He loved me so much that He did it. I came to understand
that His thoughts are not my thoughts and His ways are not my ways (Isaiah 55:
8-9). His sovereignty floods over any control I might feel I hold at times. I
tell you this story because this is how I came to know Christ. This is how God
removed the blindfold from my eyes and I became saved. God works in mysterious
ways…sometimes ways we cannot comprehend or fathom. It took
Him drastically ending an engagement for me to realize I had to first give my
life and heart to HIM before I could ever place it in the hands of any earthly
man.
Although this earthly
love was for only a season, God used it to reveal to me HIS eternal love! This
was one of the hardest trials I went through, but it was by far the most
rewarding. I traded a temporary, self-satisfying love in for a perfect, unconditional,
soul saving love that cannot be replaced. This is when I learned what it meant
to be a woman who was recklessly abandoned to the Lordship of Christ (Lady in
Waiting). Jesus Christ is the foundation on which I stand upon and I believe
with all of my heart that He is God and He is good…ALL of the time! He is my
purpose here on earth and my prayer is that in and out of season…good or bad…people
will able to observe my life and be attracted and drawn to JESUS in me… that
through my life they will come know him.
“And we know that for
those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called
according to His purpose.” –Romans 8:28
