They said at the beginning of
this year we were in for a crazy ride, they said that we would become a family,
they said that we would learn to love God and love others, they said that we
were going to be thrown into a rock tumbler….On day one I had no idea what that
meant. I had no idea that God would shake me, wake me, pull me, break me and
change me into something new (Thanks for the lyrics For All Seasons).
When I walked through the front
doors 243 days ago I had no idea that I would be thrown into the most amazing
adventure of my life. God has taken me on a journey that I was not expecting, a
journey to the deepest parts of my heart to confront the monsters of expectations,
pride, self -righteousness, a hard heart, and harsh judgments. These are the
monsters within my character that were devouring me and I was completely
unaware; these are the monsters that I had to battle with throughout the year,
I struggled to fight them off on my own only to realize that I needed Christ
more than ever, and in my need He showed me his grace.
While being here in Joshua, God
has taken all I have known and thrown it out the window, he corrected my skewed
view what I thought of community, the Bible, Christianity, the world, and
love.
He has shown me that community
will never be perfect but through grace, love, courage to correct wrongs and
the common foundation of Christ, true community is a force to reckoned with.
The Bible used to be a textbook but this year it has divided my soul and spirit
and pierced into the deepest part of my heart and has brought me back to life. Christianity
is not the faith of my parents or the church I was raised in, it’s a calling, a
calling to leave the world behind and go after Jesus with complete abandoned, knowing
that he will guide you through the known, unknown and unforeseen times with the
intent to make you more like him. The World that was once just a place full of
people is now a place full of people in need of the gospel and the savior who
has come to redeem. And love is no longer a word filled with empty emotion; it
is a call to action, to pick up a brother or sister, represent Christ well and
to hold fast to the faith that you can’t help but believe.
The biggest lesson that God has
taught me this year is that life is not made to be ordinary; he didn’t call us
to be ordinary. We have an extraordinary story because we have been saved by
grace and live by faith. We will leave Joshua and some will become, moms and
dads, pastors, teachers, nurses, doctors, business men, missionaries in the
middle of a jungle or who knows one of us might even become the president but
regardless of where we go or what we do, our stories of salvation make us
different so what we do matters for Christ, it matters in eternity, every
second of every day matters, I have a hope that is built on Christ and his word
and because of that my life will never be ordinary.
243 days ago I walked in expecting
these nine months to drag on, and to gain more knowledge and figure out what to
do with my life but now as I pack up my things I wonder where the time went it
feels like yesterday that I walked in those doors for the first time. I didn’t
just gain knowledge I developed a love for God and his word. I haven’t quite figured out what to do with
my life but I have figured out who I am. I am a sinner saved by grace, I have
likes and dislikes, I am shaped by community and loved by the maker of the
universe, in the end that is all that matters.
