Wow!! Didn't realize how long it has been since I posted!! I keep meaning too but somehow at the end of the day there just haven't been enough hours.
Last night I was thinking about how many people God has brought into my life since I made the announcement of God's call on my life. God has brought me closer to people who I've been in Sunday School class with for 3 years, He sent me on a mission trip in March with some amazing people I've gone to church with for years but didn't know very well and now those are life long friendships. He has opened the door to share with co-workers who don't go to church. He provided a part time job in the preschool at church where I met some amazing women. Complete strangers have come up to me at Walmart and said "Hey you're the girl leaving for a year on the long race trip, right?" I just laugh to myself at all the people I've met and the opportunities God has given me to share what He is doing in my life, in my fellow racers lives, and what He is doing around the world and how anybody and everybody can be a part if you just answer His call.
One lady's story stands out in my mind at the end of the day. Not because of anything she has done but because her story shows that God can and will use anything for His Glory if we allow Him. I met her at the beginning of May but didn't really get the opportunity to sit down and talk to her until last week. She told me about her past and where God had brought her from. As she was talking I was overcome with just how GREAT OUR GOD IS, and how UNCONDITIONAL HIS LOVE IS!! He is the God of miracles, not just in the Bible but TODAY He is STILL performing them!! You see, this dear friend was addicted to drugs, and one morning she decided that was it, she was done. She prayed to God for help, for forgiveness, and for the strength it would take to change. That day, in that very minute she was on her knees, God took the desire away. She never once experienced withdrawals, the craving to go back or anything.
But that's not the coolest part of the story!!!
She got involved in a local church and started doing missions. (Now, if you have never been to a third world country you need to know that dogs, and cute little puppies are NOT household pets. They are nuisances, that people do not want around. They don't feed them, give them water, play with them, take them to the vet, or anything.) So here her group was, serving in this village working at the church. There was a dog that had mange so bad it could not move. It just laid curled up all day. So my friend everyday would take it food and water, not thinking anything of it just trying to help the puppy. By the end of the trip the dog was able to stand up and come to her for the food and water!!! (hold on that's NOT the coolest part of the story either!!) There was a lady who lived next door to the church who had watched my friend everyday take care of this animal. THE LADY ACCEPTED CHRIST AS HER SAVIOR AS A RESULT OF THE LOVE MY FRIEND SHOWED THE DOG!!! The lady told the group that the love of God was EVIDENT through the love my friend had shown this dog. GOD CAN AND WILL USE ANYTHING if only we will say YES to His calling!! My friend returned home to the states, and the lady and her family took the dog in as their pet and continued caring for it.
Listening to my friend that day, I started wondering "what do I have that God wants to use to further His kingdom? Who can I shine His love on today? An elderly person, an animal, a child, a stranger on the street, the homeless man going through the dumpster?"
And what about you? Yes, you the reader…what do you have that God wants to use…if only you will say "Yes Lord".
