Day 247 :: Christy

During our down time though, I’ve loved getting to know Christy’s story and who she really is. The more I run across people overseas, the more I see God’s plan, provision, and protection over our lives.  It’s almost like God has pursued so relentlessly, that it was impossible to ignore that touch.  Maybe you’re feeling that same pursuit now.  We don’t all have to sell everything and go to the ends of the earth, but God is calling all of us to something deeper.

Anyway, I’m just reminded of God’s pursuit as I hear and read Christy’s story of God’s calling on her life.  She’s written it out, so I figured, I’d let her tell it.  If you want to visit her blog, go here.  She just wrote a blog on our white water rafting trip that’s always enjoyable.  Here’s her story…

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I’ve lived a rather blessed life filled with love, encouragement, and its fair share of challenges or stretching moments. I grew up in a Christian home – and ever since I can remember, I had an awareness of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. I prayed to accept Jesus as my Savior when I was 5 or 6, but it wasn’t until I was 13 that I decided to take this commitment more seriously, making Christ Lord of my life. At Whited Bible Camp, I surrendered my life to Christ and felt the fire of the Holy Spirit burst from my heart. It was then that the Holy Spirit awakened my heart – and brought me to life in Christ … which as my life continued on, has sustained me even through the toughest, and seemingly darkest of times.

My life changed forever when I was 16 – everything I had ever known to be true about family, love, marriage, the church, myself – it all exploded right before my eyes – along with my heart. It was Easter Sunday of 2004, and I had just returned home from church – greeted by my parents in our driveway, I soon discovered they had some rather important news to share with me. Standing in my bedroom that afternoon, I heard the most awful thing of my entire life – my parents were getting a divorce. I was crushed and felt helpless – I knew I needed to remain strong for my family, but inside I had combusted into millions of broken, shattered pieces.

I spent the entire summer angry at God – I didn’t understand how a God so loving could somehow let my parents, who had been married for 17 years fall out of love! Up until this point I had continued attending church – week after week with my plastic smile indicating everything was just fine – and no one really ever sought to know otherwise. Eventually this got exhausting – so one hot, humid, August evening I decided to go to church one last time. I must confess – reflecting on that night, I do not remember the words that were spoken, or the songs that were sung – all I remember are those final moments of the service when I found myself on my knees at the altar. It was in this moment that I surrendered complete control of every hope, dream, desire, plan,and relationship – and I committed to trust God to put my family back together.

Three days later I came home from work and found my mom crying on the couch. She had spent the better part of the day on the phone with a woman of faith – and she wanted to get back together with my dad! This blessed my heart, but God wasn’t finished yet. Over the next month, I watched God take my family and bring it back together piece, by piece, by piece, by piece, by broken piece, and in September of 2004 (just 6 months after my parents divorce announcement) I stood at that same altar and watched my parents recommit their marriage to the Lord!