I’m playing a bit of catch up with my blogs, so you might receive many from me this week. Over spring break (I know I’m late in writing this, but I figured now is better than later!) I was able to fly out to Atlanta. One of my good friends was having a baby shower, and I hadn’t seen her since her wedding in 2008. It was a great time of rest and fellowship with her and her family. They have always been so hospitable to me and while I did live in Georgia, they were like my adopted family.
I’m sure Joy will love me for posting this…but apparently I missed out taking a better picture of us.
Georgia represents a time of my life that was filled with a lot of good things as well as a lot of painful growth. I lived with some amazing friends that showed a lot of grace and weren’t going to give up on me. Of course in my stubbornness, I wouldn’t allow their wisdom, loveand grace to sink in. Returning to Georgia brings up the good and the bad. I remember driving the roads, listening to the same CD on my long drive after work, begging that the words that were being sung would be the cry of my heart, that I would stop giving into temptation, stop living in sin and begin living like who I was created to be
A DAUGHTER of the King.
A Beautiful woman.
Consecrated to God.
Set apart from others.
Praying with some guys on the street. Providing them with lunch, some personal hygiene items and clothing if they needed it.
Anyway, back to Spring Break. It was a definite blessing to be able to visit my dear friends as well as a newer friendship that developed from our co-leading experience in Swaziland. My friend moved to Atlanta completely in faith because God told her to. She got hooked up with this awesome ministry in Atlanta, ministering to the homeless, addicts, and anyone they came in contact with. This was my second time to visit The Garden, but since Atlanta wasn’t a layover this time, I was able to spend some more time with Melissa and get to minister alongside her again. She holds me accountable, won’t let me get away with my junk, is a prayer warrior and a constant source of encouragement.
When we get together anything can happen. I love my dear friend and wish I could be ministering alongside her again!
I’m constantly reminded of how easy it is to be a missionary or Christian in a different country, culture and people that are hungry for more of Christ. But ministering to people in America is different. Many have heard of Jesus, have had some painful experience with Christians in their past and would rather not hear about Jesus YET AGAIN. As I walked the streets of scary Atlanta where drug deals are taking place all around us, old rundown buildings have been condemned and lives that have been reduced to what they have on them, I praised God that he intervened and saved me from a life of homelessness, addiction, and everything else that could have happened. Don’t get me wrong, my life hasn’t been full of butterflies and rainbows, but the reality of the situation is I could be right there. There isn’t much difference between me and them, except
I have Christ in Me! That is what matters. Nothing else. I am just as sinful but have been bought by the blood of Christ.
Ministering to those in Atlanta was a stretch. I had to confront my old self over and over, with Satan trying to get me to fall back into the traps of shame and guilt over my past, and minister to the broken through my brokenness. I praise God for his redemption in my life. I wish I could be more diligent in ministering to those around me, the community that God has placed me in right now, and in a way I guess I do…just not the type of ministry I see as “ministry.”
