"And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
1 Peter 5:10
The reason this popped out at me was because it is completely true in my life!! I had severe rheumatoid arthritis for about 5 years and then it up and left! (which is not normal at all as my doctor tells me :) But in the meantime it taught me lessons that I'll always carry with me. And it just spoke to me because I did "suffer a little while" and God delivered me through it and made my walk with Him stronger and more firm as a result! Now, I don't know whether my RA will come back or not, but I wouldn't trade those years for anything because of how God worked in my life during that time. I honestly have never even thought that until just now as I was writing those words, but it is completely true. While I hated it and wouldn't wish it on anyone and definitely don't want it to come back, there are things I learned in those 5 tumultuous years with my RA that I would not have learned otherwise, one being that no matter what, God will not rip us off. Did I always believe it wholeheartedly? Of course not, but I chose to and that is something I learned to do with my RA that I have put into practice in other areas in my walk with God. I just thought it was so amazingly cool at how the Bible, even written thousands of years ago, is still fresh and new at times!! I know I've read that verse before, but last week it felt like I was reading it for the first time :) God is so good, no matter the circumstances!!
Kaila and Samantha celebrating Lauren's birthday in November :)
And the second amazing thing that has happened to me lately is that Samantha, one of the girls in my small group, committed her life to Christ this past weekend!!! She texted me about it and we had lunch today and talked about it and it was great! Previously I had shared the gospel with her and the "A,B,C's" of committing her life, being you must Admit you're a sinner and have gone your own way, Believe that Jesus Christ came down and died for your sins, and then Commit your life to Him, thus making Him the boss now and allowing Him to call the shots. The last time we got together she said she Admitted and Believed, but had yet to Commit, so we talked about what that means and how that's the crux of the issue, because if you Admit and Believe but don't Commit, then the first time some crisis appears you'll shove God away and deal with it according to your own strength because that's all you know. Further, it's a little like a romantic relationship, where even if you like a guy a lot and wouldn't date anyone else, if you don't commit to each other you'll never experience the closeness of that relationship. So that was super exciting and I'm continuing to pray for her, although this time I'm praying for protection from her newfound enemy and also for her to grow closer to God! YAY!!! I was so joyful because this was a direct answer to prayer! God is amazing isn't He? :)
Just wanted to show a picture of what I was feeling when she told me she had committed her life!! That is Lindsay Vonn, one of our olympic gold medalists for the winter Olympic games this year!! (and btw, I am really sad they're already over - it was a glorious 2 weeks while it lasted...)
And lastly, there are currently 184 days until USC's first football game against Hawaii :)
Are you going to the USC Hawaii game? I really think you should!!!! For selfish reasons of course :-)
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