Everything I Need To Know I Learned In...

Yesterday I shared a testimony with my church...

...standing on the stage in front of the congregation I could feel myself shaking...

I felt my eyes begin to burn with tears, and I swallowed back the fight.

It's funny...ask me any day of the week to "preform" in front of others, to "speak" for large crowds, to "be in the limelight" for all to see...

but yesterday, I stood on the stage of my church...

...in God's house. 

And I trembled.

Not because I was nervous.

Not because I was scared.

...because as I stood, looking out among all the people that love me for who I am, all the people that have changed my life the past eighteen months...

...I felt God's love...and I realized...

This. Is. His. Plan.

Eighteen months ago I made a choice to follow my Savior.  A choice to make Real. Life. Change.

It was the hardest choice (still is) I've ever made, and yet it was the easiest.

I chose (choose) God.  And I choose to share with anyone who will listen how Christ has changed me...

...but not just me.  He changed my family.

God is working in my family every day, even when we don't see it or hear  it...

...He is working.

I left the stage after sharing my story and I returned to my seat.  As I listened to Pastor Mark's sermon I began to write...

What do I know now, that I didn't know then?

A question that seemed to be written on it's own, as I'm not sure what possessed me to write down the words...

But the answers seemed to flow just as fluently as I continued to write...

God is God in the good times...as well as in the bad.  God is God ALL of the time.

Prayer is about listening. Open God's word...read it and listen. Don't worry about understanding it, that will come in time.  Believe it. He will accomplish all for you... if you just believe.

Satan will try to steal you away from the Lord.

Continue to run towards God, He awaits you with open arms.

There are hearts and flowers doodled all around my words, delicate pen marks that occupy the empty space on the church bulletin that is now folded and tucked inside my Bible....

...and at the end of the page, in capital letters I wrote...

EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN CHRIST'S LOVE FOR ME.