Living a life that Matters

There are times it feels God isn’t around… yet I know he is there. He is always working in all of us. I guess I can’t expect to see miracles or amazing things everyday. I’m really trying hard these days to look at the big picture. I know I can’t concentrate on just one day and think I can figure out what God is doing. I just go through these times where life is amazing and I see God working. Then I go through times where I wonder where God is. But in the end, the trials I go through seem to always make sense. And he is still working…

I feel pretty focused on God these days. Yet life is a little up and down for me. The past 6 months have been a little crazy for me. Especially with broken  relationships and temptations. But I keep looking to the cross for strength. I especially have spent some quality time reflection on what Christ did for us with Easter being here. I see God doing some cool stuff in my life, yet I still struggle as well. Especially this past couple of weeks with stress. I have been asking God to help me get through this rough period.

Just when I wonder where he is….

God goes and does something amazing and makes me remember that through Him all things are possible….

I work graveyards at a hospital in a laboratory. I usually work with the same four people everynight in my part of the lab. A male and a female in their late 40’s and a female my age. I’ve worked with them for over four years. Just over two years ago I knew nothing of their Chistianity. None of them were going to church. That is when I surrendered my life to Chirst after going through divorce. They were all very supportive and caring during that time for me. And I was open to what God was doing in my life and how he rescued me from that situation. But I didn’t want to overdue it and just tried to be an example in Christ by showing love to them.

The lady in her late 40’s went through her third divorce at the same time I went through mine. She inquired time to time about going to church, but hadn’t gone since a child. Her brother had died suddenly. She was at a point where she was trying to find peace in her life. One day I found out that she had attended my church. She drove by one day and decided to check it out. She fell in love with it. She know goes on a regular basis and even brings her ex-husband. We have many wonderful conversations about God at work.

I have known the girl my age for almost seven years. She spent the first five of those years in an abusive controlling relationship. She had a child with her boyfriend. He never worked. She supported him. There were too many nights she came to work crying. I prayed hard for this girl for years. I would occassionally give her a devotional book or a Christian book. But most of all, the other lady we work with and myself just tried to be there for her. Last year, her boyfriend up and left. At the same time, she started to go to Central Christian church with her sister. God caught her. I just went out with her this week and she is doing great. She has started to get very involved with her church and God is working in her. I truly feel someday God will use her testimony for other women that struggle from abuse. Its so awesome when you pray for someone that long and see God do amazing things in their life.

So this leads me to the last person… the guy in his late 40’s. Single guy, never been married. Pretty much lived the bachelor lifestyle his whole life. Smokes, drinks, sleeps around, lives alone. I pretty much felt there was no hope for this guy. Over the years he always poked fun at me for bringing my Bible to work and listening to church sermons on my IPod. Yet he saw what Chirst did in all three of us. Last year he ask me to pray for his sick aunt. Then he came to me about his anger issues last month. He told me his struggles with self control and was in tears. He asked me about my life.

This morning he called me and ask me if he could go to church with me….

Wow! I was on cloud nine all day! I just saw God do something amazing. I just saw him completely take a person that I felt had no shot of stepping foot in church and do a complete turnaround in his life. And he loved the church and wants to come back! I’m in awe of God! I can’t wait to go back to work (can’t believe I’m saying that).

I was unsure of how Easter would be for me this year. I read the gospels on the crucifixion and watched the ’Passion of Christ’ movie. Maybe I was hoping for something spectacular to happen. Something to me get past the down times of life. I don’t know. But I did see God at work. He is always at work. It doesn’t always make sense. But God used me to play a small part in a bigger story. And I have nothing to be down about. I trust God and know he is there. Easter is about rescue. Even though it was all in His timing, God rescued our little night shift… one by one. Its how He works. Its how He uses us. And its all for His glory!