Story 1- Fairy Godmother?! from True Life of Gospel Girl
It was New Years Day. I drove home to ch'ville to spend some time with the parents. My Mom said they were getting lunch at the neighbors and to pop in when I arrived. haha yeah right! Not only have I only met these neighbors 1 time on the street in their 8 years of living next door to us, but also I was also not in the mood for small talk. So when I arrived in our neighborhood, I parked my car at my parent's house and decided to just slip inside before my mom realized I was home. I went to the frontdoor, jammed the key into the lock, but to my dismay it wasn't working, odd i know. So i then decided to try to McGuiver my way into the house, and by McGuiver I mean walk around back, go to the 'secret location' where we have a key hidden, and try getting in through the deck/porch door. Well, that didn't work either. I then thought to call my Mom and ask her to come let me into the house, but my cell phone had no reception, awesome.
So after my multiple attempts to avoid going to the neighbors, I decided it was the only option that remained, so I went over there. There were about 15 or so people when I got there, and I immedeately noticed my brother. I found out he was leaving to go get Grace so I decided to volunteer myself to go with him so I could just have an excuse to leave and go back to my house, this time with a working key! Well, God definitely squashed that idea when my brother said "Chessy, that's silly, you just got here, I dont' want to take you away from here". BAH! foiled again. So I started munching on some celery and strawberries, cut a slice of cake, and decided I could just shovel food into my mouth to avoid small talk.
I ended up going into the Florida room, where my Mom was talking to Carmen. Note this was the first time my family had ever been invited over to Carmen/Dirks house, you could say they were total strangers to us. So Carmen began asking me the general questions, where do you live, where do you work, etc. Although it started off somewhat uninteresting, things took a complete turn when my mom mentioned that she enjoyed walking in the neighborhood. Carmen then topped it by saying her and Dirk go on hikes a lot, and then I one upped everyone haha when I mentioned people from my church are planning to hike the 7 highest peaks in the world as a way to raise $10MM to provide clean water to the entire nation of Liberia by 2013.
The next 30 minutes was filled with tons of new information. Carmen revealed to my Mom and I that her and Dirk used to live in Northern Va, they had been to McLean Bible a few times, and Dirk (a scientist) was once an atheist. We then chatted about Lon Solomon, the Falls Church church that they went to, and other similar religious type things. At this point, I was actually half glad I came, but still was envisioning my queen bed and fluffy down comforter that was waiting for me when I got home. At this point, practically all of the other guests had left or were on their way out the door so I went to the bedroom to get my coat, and headed for the door when Carmen said "Chessy, hang back for a minute there is something I want to show you. "
OK DON'T STOP READING... THIS IS THE MEAT/BEST MOST IMPORTANT PART! Carmen showed me her library that was filled with what looked to be Enclyopedia Britanica's based on the sheer size and number of uniform books. The books were actually commentaries on the entire bible. Carmen told me that her and Dirk had been missionaries most of their life, and that Dirk is always looking for tough questions about faith that he can answer. Carmen also told me that they are very relational based and don't just go up to people and impose Jesus on them (Amen Sista!) . I told Carmen how I had been praying for my parents for years, told her how my parents were both very skeptical when my brother and I became "born again Christians'", how they thought it was a cult/we were brainwashed, and how eventually God managed to change my Dad's heart over a 4 year time period, how my Dad started watching Frontline live via the internet campus, how my Dad after the death of his brother nearly a year ago decided to start a relationship with Christ, and how for the past year I had been praying that they could find either a bible study or at least community with other Christians. Carmen told me that she realized her and Dirk had nothing in common with my parents, but that she would be open to doing a bible study with them. Carmen and I continued to talk for another 45 minutes, and it was crazy!!! I felt like she was someone I had known for years. It's so amazing to me how when two people have the Holy Spirit living inside of them, that's all it takes to make an instant connection.
Three weeks ago, the bible study started at Carmen/Dirk's house. After the first bible study, I talked to my mom and I have never heard her so excited on the phone in my entire life. She was telling me how she had all these questions for Dirk (Yes, my mom is awesome at asking questions, and I'm convinced she missed out on her career as a reporter) and how they learned about the general structure/history/organization of the bible. After the second bible study, one week later, I was talking to my Dad and he was telling me how awesome it was . "Chess , Chess, it's like we're taking classes! We were over there for 2 hours, reading Genesis 1-3 and seeing how it ties into John.. and Dirk is so on top of things! he has his own lesson plan and he gave us homework! Oh and of course your Mom was asking tons of questions, it was so good! ". I had to stop myself from crying tears of joy as my Dad was telling me this on the phone. It seemed surreal. If you knew the back story of my family you would be as shocked as I was. So really, I hope you take away the fact that there is no explanation for how all this orchestrated and developed other than the fact that God exists, He is in control of all the details in our life, and He can change even the hardest of hearts.
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible " Matthew 19:26
It was New Years Day. I drove home to ch'ville to spend some time with the parents. My Mom said they were getting lunch at the neighbors and to pop in when I arrived. haha yeah right! Not only have I only met these neighbors 1 time on the street in their 8 years of living next door to us, but also I was also not in the mood for small talk. So when I arrived in our neighborhood, I parked my car at my parent's house and decided to just slip inside before my mom realized I was home. I went to the frontdoor, jammed the key into the lock, but to my dismay it wasn't working, odd i know. So i then decided to try to McGuiver my way into the house, and by McGuiver I mean walk around back, go to the 'secret location' where we have a key hidden, and try getting in through the deck/porch door. Well, that didn't work either. I then thought to call my Mom and ask her to come let me into the house, but my cell phone had no reception, awesome.
So after my multiple attempts to avoid going to the neighbors, I decided it was the only option that remained, so I went over there. There were about 15 or so people when I got there, and I immedeately noticed my brother. I found out he was leaving to go get Grace so I decided to volunteer myself to go with him so I could just have an excuse to leave and go back to my house, this time with a working key! Well, God definitely squashed that idea when my brother said "Chessy, that's silly, you just got here, I dont' want to take you away from here". BAH! foiled again. So I started munching on some celery and strawberries, cut a slice of cake, and decided I could just shovel food into my mouth to avoid small talk.
I ended up going into the Florida room, where my Mom was talking to Carmen. Note this was the first time my family had ever been invited over to Carmen/Dirks house, you could say they were total strangers to us. So Carmen began asking me the general questions, where do you live, where do you work, etc. Although it started off somewhat uninteresting, things took a complete turn when my mom mentioned that she enjoyed walking in the neighborhood. Carmen then topped it by saying her and Dirk go on hikes a lot, and then I one upped everyone haha when I mentioned people from my church are planning to hike the 7 highest peaks in the world as a way to raise $10MM to provide clean water to the entire nation of Liberia by 2013.
The next 30 minutes was filled with tons of new information. Carmen revealed to my Mom and I that her and Dirk used to live in Northern Va, they had been to McLean Bible a few times, and Dirk (a scientist) was once an atheist. We then chatted about Lon Solomon, the Falls Church church that they went to, and other similar religious type things. At this point, I was actually half glad I came, but still was envisioning my queen bed and fluffy down comforter that was waiting for me when I got home. At this point, practically all of the other guests had left or were on their way out the door so I went to the bedroom to get my coat, and headed for the door when Carmen said "Chessy, hang back for a minute there is something I want to show you. "
OK DON'T STOP READING... THIS IS THE MEAT/BEST MOST IMPORTANT PART! Carmen showed me her library that was filled with what looked to be Enclyopedia Britanica's based on the sheer size and number of uniform books. The books were actually commentaries on the entire bible. Carmen told me that her and Dirk had been missionaries most of their life, and that Dirk is always looking for tough questions about faith that he can answer. Carmen also told me that they are very relational based and don't just go up to people and impose Jesus on them (Amen Sista!) . I told Carmen how I had been praying for my parents for years, told her how my parents were both very skeptical when my brother and I became "born again Christians'", how they thought it was a cult/we were brainwashed, and how eventually God managed to change my Dad's heart over a 4 year time period, how my Dad started watching Frontline live via the internet campus, how my Dad after the death of his brother nearly a year ago decided to start a relationship with Christ, and how for the past year I had been praying that they could find either a bible study or at least community with other Christians. Carmen told me that she realized her and Dirk had nothing in common with my parents, but that she would be open to doing a bible study with them. Carmen and I continued to talk for another 45 minutes, and it was crazy!!! I felt like she was someone I had known for years. It's so amazing to me how when two people have the Holy Spirit living inside of them, that's all it takes to make an instant connection.
Three weeks ago, the bible study started at Carmen/Dirk's house. After the first bible study, I talked to my mom and I have never heard her so excited on the phone in my entire life. She was telling me how she had all these questions for Dirk (Yes, my mom is awesome at asking questions, and I'm convinced she missed out on her career as a reporter) and how they learned about the general structure/history/organization of the bible. After the second bible study, one week later, I was talking to my Dad and he was telling me how awesome it was . "Chess , Chess, it's like we're taking classes! We were over there for 2 hours, reading Genesis 1-3 and seeing how it ties into John.. and Dirk is so on top of things! he has his own lesson plan and he gave us homework! Oh and of course your Mom was asking tons of questions, it was so good! ". I had to stop myself from crying tears of joy as my Dad was telling me this on the phone. It seemed surreal. If you knew the back story of my family you would be as shocked as I was. So really, I hope you take away the fact that there is no explanation for how all this orchestrated and developed other than the fact that God exists, He is in control of all the details in our life, and He can change even the hardest of hearts.
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible " Matthew 19:26
Posts
That's so awesome! It's stories like this that give us reassurance that God is real and He is actively working in our lives.
ReplyDeletethanks Laura! this story is actually what inspired me to start the blog.
ReplyDeleteawesome!
ReplyDelete