These past few months I have gone on many camping trips, a few walks, many lunch dates, and had many game nights with a few… passionate players like myself. There have been so many funny memories that we can recount or make inside jokes about, but I sometimes forget the most important person that was there for every minute, Jesus! He is the one that gave us the friendships and the means for our various adventures.
When God created Adam, he knew something was missing. So He made Adam go to sleep and He created Eve. God knew that we were creatures that needed others around us that would help us grow and learn. When God created little ole’ me, He knew I would be stubborn as can be and that I would take some work! He also knew that I would need solid examples in my life so He blessed me in every way with friendships and mentors.
To name a few of those groups/friends… My community group has been such a fruitful group. I learn more and more about God’s character and the ways He works in people’s life. The women’s discipleship group I was apart of this past year has taught me a lot about what it means to be a younger woman and an older woman. The UAS ministry club, Without Borders, gave me the opportunity to have deeper friendship and grow closer to people who have the same passion for God. As the school year came to a close, we started a group that goes camping or has game nights. From all of these groups and friendships, I have met more people and been blessed with more friendships.
God has been using my friendships with a few people to really show me the benefit of living my life for Him. If you were there for the Thursday night Bible study at the Calvary House a little while back, then you heard me share a large part of my testimony. Out of respect for people that are apart of it, I won’t share some of the details but you know that I have trust issues and forgiveness struggles. The friendships that God has given me helped to soften those walls that the enemy helped me to build up for a long time. I mean 6 months ago if you told me I would be going on a mission trip, I would share with a room of people I didn’t know super well about that one sin I am so ashamed of, or even that I would have a blog where I shared my coming to Jesus story in it’s entirety, I would have said you’re nuts! God doesn’t just use experiences to shape you, He uses people too.
I leave for training camp in 59 days. That is so close and yet so far. I know that I am not ready now, but when the time comes God will equip me. He has taught me a lot about not holding back and trusting that He will provide safe passage through the storm so I have faith that if I yield to Him then I will be more than prepared for the lessons to come.
