Change and Choice

Sleep, it isn’t like missing a show that you can catch up on later.  It is a sacrifice.  I am so thankful for the leaders and pastors who opted to sacrifice their sleep for this last weekend at the girl’s conference.  It was not in vein- what an incredible two days!  I had the privilege of speaking to the girls during the last session and I wanted to share a familiar story found in the New Testament with all of them.  I hope this small snidbit from that session speaks to you as well…

"I am sure you have read or at least heard the story of Saul on the road to Damascus (found in Acts 9) before, but I want to tell it from a different point of view. When I was in Sunday school I always pictured him as a monster of a man who hated anything to do with God.  It wasn’t that much of a leap considering that he is throwing Christians into prison, and said to be “eager to kill them”.   But that assumption is incredibly wrong.  I don’t know how big of a man he was, but he believed in God.  So much so that he was very well educated in the Jewish traditions, and kept every one of them.  Saul believed in God, but He did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God.  When Saul asked “Who are you, Lord” and heard back “I am Jesus” he was given a choice.  Stick to what he has known and been taught his entire life or do a complete turnaround on his beliefs and accept that Jesus is in fact, the Son of God. 

Have you ever faced a choice?  A big one?  A real belief or conviction challenging decision?  Should I date this boy, should I go to this party, should I hang out with this group of friends, should I join in on their gossip, should I hold on to this bitterness… I am not saying that you will hear an audible voice booming down from heaven that knocks you off of your horse, mainly because we don’t ride horses… and also because very few hear the audible voice of God… But I am saying that God will call out to you.  He’ll call out to you for your salvation, He’ll call out to you for a change of direction, He’ll call out to you when you are about to make a huge mistake, He’ll call out to you when you feel you are all alone… He’ll call out to you… This amazing God that we serve is so involved with us as a person, He cares so much about the details of our lives that He will try to get our attention.  And when He calls, it is always followed up with a choice.  To follow His leading or to follow our own.  To let Him be the author of our stories, guiding our steps, or to trust only in ourselves (or those we surround ourselves with) and ignore Him entirely. 

 

By all means, this hatred, this dysfunction, this hurt is all we’ve known.  Who are we to think we are “better” than our friends or family?  If I rejected how I’ve been taught to react what would they think?  WHO CARES!!!!  They didn’t write your story and they sure aren’t living it!  Saul’s parents’ raised him to believe in God.  He was passionate about God- enough so that he was angered by what he believed to be blasphemy against the Word of God.  I am sure that they were well intentioned people but they were wrong.  And without a real encounter with God, without a relationship with Him, Saul would have never had the revelation that he was in fact headed down the same wrong path. We can follow all of the advice of our friends or the “rules of religion” that we want but without knowing the author of our own stories our well intentions will always get us into trouble.  It is not enough to be a good person.  Our goodness will never be good enough.  We need to know HIM.  We need to listen to HIM.  We need to follow HIM.

Do you want to know how to find true success in life?  It is found in this simple nursery rhyme…

"Change your reactions, to things that will be.
Choose the right author, to write your story.
If there were ever a key to finding your voice,
It’s in knowing the power of two words; change and choice."

 

This is our life, our story.  And only God can lead us to our Happily Ever After."