"Thank God it is Sunday, finally I get to sleep in!"
This was my way of thinking as soon as I arrived at college. As I have mentioned earlier I had been raised in a very Christian home and there wasn't a Sunday that you EVER slept in! So, as a "independent adult" I seized the opportunity to make my own decision to sleep in, after all when I didn't get in til' after 3AM from the crazy frat party - why would I get up?
Some, might ask, why after being raised in a Christian home and someone who was a Christian since the age of 9 would stray to a lifestyle of unwise and plain stupid decisions? I don't know, but maybe it had something to do with me giving up on the Christians around me and for the first time ever, being able to see what was on the "other side" of the fence and/or tracks, depending on who you talked to.
When I was in High School, my home church, the place that provided me a social life, a dating life, a multitude of friends, and the foundation of what I believed decided to have a little "tif" or as I would call it an all out battle of "worldly" items like $$$, buildings, and who was "in charge"! Needless to say, within a matter of a few months, all of the "Christians" that I thought of as a living example of what I wanted to be, became horrible, mean, and outright despicable people! My family left my foundation, my friends, and the church that I thought I would get married in someday to go somewhere where I had none of those things! A few months later I was off to college and when I came home - I didn't have a home church to go to. This my friends is where life unraveled!
Life might have been "unraveled" in a spiritual sense, but as for the worldly side of life- it was GREAT! I had a blast, I had awesome friends, and I experienced some things that you wouldn't believe if I even began to tell you! I ROCKED IT OUT and really didn't feel the need to change... I never thought that REPURPOSING my life for God was a priority for me and/or Brent either. We were having a GOOD time, we were GOOD people and life was GOOD to us....
For some reason our careers became too stressful and we were looking for an out- out of town! We ended up in a rural town in Missouri, away from our friends, away from the "scene", and into a community that led us back to our roots. After searching for a church home, something I still didn't trust, 18 years later, to raise our children in, we stumbled into FBC after a co-worker invited us- over and over! (Thanks, Amanda - love ya!) Life is GOOD - but God is GREAT! It seemed that one after another, we were making friends and each of them had something to teach us, something to share, something to learn...
I have been REPURPOSED for GOD!
It was like a flood in my life, everything that I believed, trusted, and hoped for came flooding back to me. I had a purpose for God, even though I thought I wouldn't ever be able stand for him again after the lifestyle that I had lived, or the disconnect that I had put between him and myself for so many years! But I was wrong! He is using me, even though somedays it is a slow process, someday it is rampant, but everyday he is present! I struggle - I would love to tell you that I am perfect and that I read my Bible everyday, or that I pray at every meal, or that I take every chance that he gives me to share his love, even with my children... but I would be lying! I never feel like I "make it" to where I need or want to be, but tomorrow is another day and he will provide!
Tomorrow I will REPURPOSE it for GOD - what will you do?
Laurie
This was my way of thinking as soon as I arrived at college. As I have mentioned earlier I had been raised in a very Christian home and there wasn't a Sunday that you EVER slept in! So, as a "independent adult" I seized the opportunity to make my own decision to sleep in, after all when I didn't get in til' after 3AM from the crazy frat party - why would I get up?
Some, might ask, why after being raised in a Christian home and someone who was a Christian since the age of 9 would stray to a lifestyle of unwise and plain stupid decisions? I don't know, but maybe it had something to do with me giving up on the Christians around me and for the first time ever, being able to see what was on the "other side" of the fence and/or tracks, depending on who you talked to.
When I was in High School, my home church, the place that provided me a social life, a dating life, a multitude of friends, and the foundation of what I believed decided to have a little "tif" or as I would call it an all out battle of "worldly" items like $$$, buildings, and who was "in charge"! Needless to say, within a matter of a few months, all of the "Christians" that I thought of as a living example of what I wanted to be, became horrible, mean, and outright despicable people! My family left my foundation, my friends, and the church that I thought I would get married in someday to go somewhere where I had none of those things! A few months later I was off to college and when I came home - I didn't have a home church to go to. This my friends is where life unraveled!
Life might have been "unraveled" in a spiritual sense, but as for the worldly side of life- it was GREAT! I had a blast, I had awesome friends, and I experienced some things that you wouldn't believe if I even began to tell you! I ROCKED IT OUT and really didn't feel the need to change... I never thought that REPURPOSING my life for God was a priority for me and/or Brent either. We were having a GOOD time, we were GOOD people and life was GOOD to us....
For some reason our careers became too stressful and we were looking for an out- out of town! We ended up in a rural town in Missouri, away from our friends, away from the "scene", and into a community that led us back to our roots. After searching for a church home, something I still didn't trust, 18 years later, to raise our children in, we stumbled into FBC after a co-worker invited us- over and over! (Thanks, Amanda - love ya!) Life is GOOD - but God is GREAT! It seemed that one after another, we were making friends and each of them had something to teach us, something to share, something to learn...
I have been REPURPOSED for GOD!
(our friends Amanda and Gene... excellent examples of God's love)
Tomorrow I will REPURPOSE it for GOD - what will you do?
Laurie
Proud of you sis' and eager to see the days ahead that God has for you and your special family!
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