Sharing faith and experiences.

More recently I have been challenged to start being more bold and sharing the reason for which I have been created, to glorify God and share Jesus and how he saves with others. I am turning 29 years old in 2 days, and when reaching another birthday I tend to reflect back on my life and look at what has happened and things I have learned. My year of 28 has been one themed by the word healing. At age 27 I suffered not only anxiety for the first time in my life, but also lost one of my oldest friends in a car accident and my grandfather in a car accident, and finally a loss of a love relationship in which I thought I had met the one. My heart and soul were ripped open at 27 and I found myself on my knees more than ever before asking God to just help me get through this day, this hour, this moment. I welcomed 28 as God brought me into a new community and to fellow believer (saints) that would be so instrumental in helping me to heal from all my pain. In my last year of healing, I have been forced once again to face the reality that I am only one heart beat away from walking off into eternity with my savior, and the one thing I will not be able to do when I get there, is to share the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ with anyone (thank you Mark Cahill for making that so clear to me).

In light of the reality of how fragile this life is and how important it is for me to continue to heal and share as I grow, I have had some just amazing experiences that otherwise may not have occurred. Recently while feeding homeless on a Sunday with my roommate and friends, I was able to sit and listen to a couple of men's stories on how they have come to where they are, and in doing so I too was able to share some of my story. In the end God took what was such pain in my life to reach and teach these men, that by the end of our conversation, they each shared how they would never forget our conversation, and how it really challenged them to rethink their lives and to get them straight with God. And then on a even more recent camping trip, God opened the doors for me to share again with a stranger, and by the end she said she felt so challeged to be more bold with her faith. I am weary, but in my weakness God is strong. I look at turning 29 and it is not where I would have imagined myself at this age, but I know it is exactly where God did. Sometimes I get lost in thinking about how I wish I was more "established" as the world would put it, but I know that God says we are but vapors, and I am encouraged to know that I am trying more than ever before to be obedient in my short days. Our ideas of what life should look like are not God's, and I believe that the sooner we understand and surrender that, God can really work in us and show us a real life "established" in him.

Today an actor I really enjoyed died, Patrick Swayze at age 57. When I hear this my thoughts immediately go to "was he saved"? I don't know, but yet another reminder of someone who was just here living and breathing yesterday, but is no longer here today. God ordaines the number of our days, how are we going to live them? I am thankful for all the pain and suffering I went through, I have been able to use those stories to share Jesus with others, and that my friends is what this short little life is all about. How are you taking what has occurred in you life experiences and using it to glorify God?