Tonight was Bible Study and one of the
best I have ever known.
It didn't go as planned, as the best
things always are. Tonight when we got to a certain question, the
opportunity was opened up to share how we each came to Christ. I asked if we could just go around and say at least the beginning of our journey.
It was
soooo incredible!!!! Each person had been uniquely touched by God's
love. I'd never heard the stories before like that from Christians. I
had heard about 5 stories, but I think that's been it before tonight.
And having one right after another, you could see how God touched
each personally, how there were so many differences, but also
similarities. Like how each person turned away and then reached up to Him. And how each person told of how they felt Him, but never said how it felt. Love's kinda hard to put into words.
It was so fun to hear people talk about
God in different ways, but with such...love...like a twitterpated
fondness. And I found out Whitney has heard God laugh too. I saw it
when she was talking and she looked at me and said, “You know what
I mean, don't you Jen?” I laughed and said I sure did and thought
of some of the things He's said to me recently. It was nice to be able to share that with someone.
It was fun to see others talk about God
the same way people talk about crushes. With sighs and halting and slightly illogical sequences. It was encouraging to hear
how others get angry at God too and then to see them choke up as they talk about God
coming down and wooing them back so tenderly.
The group of people there was amazing, but what we said
didn't say that. Instead I found myself turning to God in wonder at
His patience and kindness and love. Oh how He loves!!!
I told how I tried to be an atheist,
but there was a God sized gap everywhere I looked. And I had to avoid
C.S. Lewis entirely, but no matter how I tried I could not believe in
no God. For others it was they hit rock bottom and had no where else to turn. For others it's more of a journey. In all of them we've had ups and downs. And life gets better, but harder when you start knowing God. As Jessica said, "There's an ugliness in there inside of me and if I don't deal with it, God cuts me open to show it and the everyone else gets to see the mess." Jeremy and Jon each said they wanted to grow in Christ, but it seems that life gets harder in order to do that. But each time the hard stuff hits, it brings you so much closer to God.
I felt such a love for each person there and for God. It was so amazing!!
