Tuesday, March 15, 2011

For God's Glory

A friend of mine stopped by the house tonight to drop off some items for our bible study tomorrow morning.  She was supposed to bring them to the study, but found out that her favorite Aunt had passed away and my friend and her family are flying out to Chicago tomorrow morning last minute.

When she stopped by the house I was so thankful she was able to come in for a minute so we could talk.  I listened to her, hugged her, let her cry and talk, and did my best to encourage her.  It can be really hard to know what to say to someone who has lost a person close to them.

Then, God reminded me of my Dad.  I lost him almost 7 years ago suddenly and it was devastating.  I shared with my friend about my dad's death and how my mom, my brother and I all dealt with the loss.  I shared with her my sadness at not knowing for sure about my dad's salvation because he and I had never spoken about it.  I shared with her how we all laughed and reminisced about old times with dad at his funeral, and made every effort to continue talking about him even when it made us cry.  I shared with her about how Pastor Roger did an alter call at my dad's funeral and a couple of hands raised.  God was being glorified at  my dad's funeral!

I asked my friend about her Aunt, their relationship, her mom and their relationship, her family and whether or not they new the Lord.  I reminded her that God uses all thing to glorify Him.  Then as we were talking, God showed me how He used my dad's death to glorify Him.

When my dad was alive, he and my mom only went to church when I was very young.  After I turned 9, we moved and my parents never went back to church and my parents walked away from the Lord.  I rarely spoke with my parents about God, even after I was married and my husband and I began going to church together.  Our conversations were very surface level about God and church and mostly between my mom and I.  I was a baby believer and pretty insecure about my knowledge of the Word and sharing it.

Then, my dad died.  I dove deep into the Word as a way to cope with the loss and I shared everything I read with my mom and anyone who would listen.  Every day mom and I spoke I would try to encourage her with something I had read in the bible or something I felt the Lord telling me.

A year and a half later my mom met a recently widowed man and they fell in love.  He and I disagreed about God, and church and I stood my ground with my mom about them being unequally yoked.  I prayed and had others praying about their relationship and asked mom to ask him to leave his church before she agreed to marry him.  He agreed!  However, he still held on to his beliefs.  They were married soon after.  I continued to pray.

Together they agreed to find a church they both loved.  I prayed and God brought them to a lovely little church that preached the Good News about Jesus, just down the street from their house.  They began attending and soon  my mom became a member of the church.   Her husband was not ready to renounce his previous church religion yet, but still continued to attend and grew to love the church that he and my mom went to together.  The Holy Spirit was moving.

A few months ago my step-dad joined the church.  I truly believe he is saved and knows the saving grace of Jesus.  He is a very different man than he was 5 years ago.  We talk about Jesus and the bible all the time.  I love it!

My grandmother is also attending church with  my mom after not attending church in years.  She and my mom both attend weekly bible studies and are growing in their walk with the Lord.  We are a totally different family than we were almost 7 years ago, and that is because the Lord took my dad home a little sooner than any of us expected, but right when He expected.

I shared all of this with my friend and it was she who pointed out all that God had done for my family since losing dad.  I really hadn't seen it all put together until then.  It took my breath away.  He is so good.

My friend isn't sure where much of her family is at with their walk with the Lord right now, but she is sure of one thing:  she will be talking about Jesus with them on this trip.  She will be sharing how much He loves them, and maybe she will even take her older sister to church.  God is already moving in my friends heart and I can't wait to see Him glorified.