Transformational Stories: The Second Thing

In my work with Key Ministry, we’re shifting our focus a little for the next couple of years. As we’ve been working on our strategy, one of the things that God keeps bringing to my attention is the power of stories, especially transformational stories. You know what I mean: these are the kinds of things that happen that show you that God is at work in your life, and it can’t be denied, by you or anyone else.

No matter what that focus looks like for Key Ministry, I think this is where God wants me to focus in my personal ministry. If you haven’t figured this out yet, I have a lot of stories :-), but so many of them haven’t been shared. I’ve waited for the right time for some of them; others have come together slowly as God weaves in details, years after the initial events, that show seemingly uninteresting and unimportant days often have great importance in His kingdom, many years later.

My grandfathers were both story-tellers: my maternal grandfather was a farmer, but was apparently spun a good yarn. My paternal grandfather was a pastor and worked in radio. I’ve read some correspondence he wrote, and he was a skillful communicator. So this apple doesn’t fall far from either one of those trees, it seems.

I’ve mentioned before that I have prophetic gifting: things that happen to me, or that I observe in my own life are sometimes like a template of what I observe happening in others’ lives. It’s more than just cause and effect. 

For today, I want to tell you about a time when I took one of my first steps into real relationship with Christ. I grew up in church, I accepted Christ and was baptized when I was 8. And when I was in my late teens, Jesus almost won my heart. But honestly? I wanted to do what I wanted to do in romantic relationships. I had some boundaries, but if you spend too much time at the edges of your boundaries, eventually they get crossed. And it can be nearly impossible to put those boundaries back in their proper place.

When I was 26, I dated a young man for almost a year who wanted to get married. We weren’t engaged, but it was a serious relationship. I knew there were things that weren’t right in our relationship, and truthfully, I wasn’t excited about him, really ever. I tried to convince myself that I was just being cautious after being hurt, but that was a denial of myself, of my God-given emotions and undeveloped discernment. 

The night I broke off our relationship, it felt like a war inside me. No exaggeration. On the one hand, I was terrified no one else would love me, want to care for me, be a husband to me. On the other hand, I could no longer live with what I knew wasn’t right. 

Ultimately, I chose to end the relationship. It was the right choice, but from Gods’ perspective, the choice that night impacted more than I could have imagined.

A few months later, I ran into an old high school friend who lived in another state. We began communicating, and went out on a date when he was back in Virginia several more months later. On the date, I learned he was a Christian, and was living a Christ-honoring life.

Everything he was held so much appeal. I was so hungry for spiritual food, and friendships and other relationships that would feed my spirit. He invited me to come visit him, so some time later I traveled to see him, and met his friends. All of them were Christians.

I’m sure some were more godly than others. Some of them I liked quite a lot and felt a connection to; others, not so much. Pretty much like people everywhere––especially within the community of believers.

Photo credit: Jose Castillo on Unsplash.com.

But the principle that God laid down, that has repeated for me so many times, is that when I take one seemingly tiny step in the right direction––at the direction of the Holy Spirit, or just to do what I know is right, versus what is expedient or popular––soon thereafter, God lets me experience something or see something that is out of left field, from my perspective. But that “second thing” drives me to spiritual growth and a deeper relationship with Him than I ever anticipated.

And sometimes that growth is painful. 

Sin creates wounds in our spirits; at a minimum, sin makes every person blind. For a physical wound, ripping a bandaid off all at once is usually a good idea. But if my mind and spirit isn’t prepared to receive truth, ripping off the sin-blinders all at once can cause people to reject what they see and hear––even if, at some level, they understand what they are seeing is inescapable, irrefutable truth. 

So the principle I’ve seen is that when I make a baby step of faith, God gives me a small confirmation, a small revelation. But the baby step of faith opens my eyes to see a little of the sunlight that He’s shining into dark places in my heart, to see clearly the pet sins and choices that I rather like, but are killing me. That first small step towards Him opens a crack in the door of my spirit, and gradually everything that’s dark within me becomes illuminated. What I see there, when combined with God’s revealing spotlight, is often what I don’t expect. Often, it’s a revealing view of choices I make that prevent me from obtaining the very things that I desperately long for.

That trip to visit my friend was certainly like this. I expected it to be one thing, but God had quite a different plan in mind. I never imagined it would involve me sobbing alone in a swimming pool one midnight, crying hard for a solid 30 minutes. Why was I crying? Because I felt so dirty when I compared myself to those people. They were living for Jesus, and I knew I was not. 

I thought I went on this trip to develop a romantic relationship, which might have even become a marriage relationship. God’s reality was that He was drawing me into the relationship with Him where He ultimately became my Husband. And it was only after I became close to Christ that I was spiritually ready for my earthly husband about two years later.

I encourage you to take that step of faith today. Then pay attention. God requires us to give Him access because He’s a gentleman; He doesn’t go where He’s not welcome. Those small steps of faith open that door to Him. Before you know it, He begins to illuminate your mind and spirit in perhaps painful but necessary ways. You may begin to see many things differently. You may find that you have to make some changes. 

From someone who’s been in that exact same position, many times: don’t be afraid. You truly have nothing to lose, and everything that’s truly valuable is yours to gain.