the beauty of knowing Christ

There is so much beauty in knowing Christ!! Its crazy- when someone becomes a Christian, they get a completely new heart, a new spirit, a change of EVERYTHING!!! Tonight God gave me a little gift, reminding me who He is, and what He really does....

I took a new believer, who I had barely met, with me somewhere tonight. On the way there, we talked all about God, grace, what it really meant to follow Christ. Not just doing good things, focusing on works, on doing enough service to look like a "good christian", but really trusting not in something, but in someone. In JESUS! In the fact that the work has been done FOR you!! Resting in the truth that works come after faith, not the other way around. Do you remember the moment you first believed?? I dont. But tonight, I realized, these things are huge. These truths ARE truth to me, they are what I have built my life on, and will until the day I die. But, sometimes they grow stale in my heart, cuz I dont really remember what it was like not to have Jesus. What would your life be like without faith!?? 


I remembered tonight. Talking with this girl, seeing her eyes light up as she talked about God changing her whole life, Jesus being the one thing that could satisfy, saying her whole world was turned upside down, made me remember. I remembered my life BC...the hopelessness, my unsettled heart, searching for truth, too scared and shy to be friends with anyone, the loneliness at Furman, tirelessly trying to earn grace, living for who people thought i was.. and that was her story too. In a way, it took me back to the day I watched Emily sitting on the couch in our den room in north village as she quietly and methodically studied the Bible. I wondered what she was doing. She was so weird to me! The way she dressed had changed, the way she talked, her whole spirit was different..but something was captivating to me. I think thats the day I realized I didnt have that, but I was too scared to talk about it, fearing that I would just never measure up or amount to anything. But, miraculously, God did the same thing in my life! He literally changed all my desires. And i mean ALL of them. He brought me to the LP...to the first time I shared my faith....I could list on and on and on what God has done up to this very moment!! Its really miraculous!!!! Where would I be without Christ? Who would I be?


Tonight as we drove back, she said "I love the song How Great is Our God. Its the song that describes these past 3 weeks...." and to me, I really saw faith like a child. I was reminded again why God has me where He has me. And was so thankful for my salvation, my job, and true saving faith that really leads to radical life change!! Who could this girl be in 4 years!? A missionary? A mom who disciples her kids? A   photographer who takes pictures for the glory of God? Something so different than she thought only weeks ago.


I think Im extra thankful for this because lately, my desire has been low. Just on alot of levels. Im sedentary, achey, and really kinda feel left out of life. Feel like alot of my passions are shrinking before my eyes...but God really gave me the gift of remembering salvation, and reminded me why I want to spend the rest of my life telling people about true lasting life!! Praise God for His faithfulness.