This past Saturday I, along with my teammates, had the opportunity to talk in church. I’ve mentioned this before- I am not the biggest fan of public speaking. Knowing this about myself, I set aside time to prepare my outline in order to calm my nerves.
As I looked at the blank piece of paper, I had no clue what God wanted to say through me; which is when I turned to my Bible. As I flipped through the pages, one book stood out to me- 1 Peter, specifically chapter 1, verses 6 to 9.
“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though you faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible you. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.”
This passage is underlined in my Bible because it was one of my cousin’s favorite scriptures. She technically wasn’t my cousin, because our families aren’t blood related, but we consider one another family. Her name was Chelsea and I looked up to her more than what she probably knew.
She unexpectedly passed away over a year ago.
When I received the tragic news, I was devastated. I considered dropping out of school because I realized how short life on Earth is and being cooped up in a classroom didn’t sound appealing to me anymore. The desire to drop everything to do mission work consumed my thoughts. However God told me to me to finish my undergrad.
Now I am on the World Race, traveling the world to share the good news! And this Saturday I got to share, in memory of Chelsea, how God gives us strength to endure trials and it is through enduring trials that we learn to rely and trust our Heavenly Father.
I felt at peace when I shared, but it wasn’t until our host, Pastor Erion, preached that I knew I was meant to share 1 Peter 1:6-9 in Chelsea’s memory- he shared a sermon on Philippians 4:6-7.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
When I heard Erion read this, my eyes started to tear up. For this was another passage I had underlined, because it was another one of Chelsea’s favorites.
Therefore, for the rest of the church service I had an image of God and Chelsea, together in Heaven, rejoicing because God’s goodness is being shared, still, through Chelsea.
I know that God is real and alive because He transforms trials into blessings. Praise Him for trials, endurance, and peace. He is so good!
