Because of Jesus
I descended down the steep staircase. The darkness of the basement hid me enough so I could blend into the background of the group. In a room full of high schoolers you can’t fully escape the scrutiny of clothes and looks but I felt safe enough to take my seat in the circle of folding chairs. Each chair had been thoughtfully placed side by side to form a space to facilitate trust.
I was there only because Allison had invited me.
Allison was more than a youth pastor. She was a friend, a confidant and the only person that seemed to truly care about me at the time. She knew my story, the brokenness that was taking place in my family.
My dad’s stroke.
My parent’s divorce.
My mom’s mental illness.
She didn’t know the full extent of the darkness that was slowly drowning me in the hallways of high school or in the painful isolation of the place I called home. But she knew I needed a Savior.
She poured into me.
She invited me.
She took me out.
She came to my games.
Because of Jesus, she loved me when she didn’t have to.
In that dark basement, on that very night, God shined his light on me and put his light inside of me. With a Bible, plastic cups, water, iodine and bleach Allison painted a clear picture of the gospel.
Although, I’d been to church many times this was the Good News that I’d never heard before. And so began my personal relationship with Jesus that has changed my life from the inside out.
New Life
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Just like a baby doesn’t walk until she’s a year old, I didn’t know how to walk on my new feet of faith. Being saved didn’t mean I had arrived. The Bible clearly says we are all continually working out our salvation {Phil. 2:12}. Meaning we are all in-process. No matter where we are on our faith journey.
Becoming a new creation is a process. A process of the old passing away. A process of beholding the new that has come.
Diving into God’s Word and being discipled by many different “Allisons” overtime, all worked together to radically transform my life into what it is now.
{And 22 years later I still haven’t arrived. I’m still in-process}
Jesus took a broken teenager of 15, living in a shattered world, who wanted nothing more than to take her own life
and gave her life.
Life everlasting,
that can never be taken from her.
I live a life I never imagined possible because of Jesus. Click To Tweet
Beautiful Feet
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 10:14,15
At the IF: Gathering 2017 speaker and author Jill Briscoe shared about her many years of living out discipleship as a missionary all over the world. She put it so well ::
The mission field is between your own two feet at any given time. Click To Tweet
Wherever I am. My feet are with me. And they are standing on my mission field.
I want the eyes to see my mission field, don’t you?
I want more Kathleens to know Jesus.
I want more {insert your name}s to know Jesus.
And we so desperately need more Allisons in this world, don’t we?
Do we even realize, do we know, that we’re it?
That, you and I, are God’s game plan.
Go therefore and make disciples…
He’s talking to me.
He’s talking to you.
So go to the places where your own two feet are already taking you.
When you’re bending down to pick up your little one. You’re standing on your mission field.
When you’re driving your kids to school. You’re standing on your mission field.
When you’re checking out at the grocery store. You’re standing on your mission field.
When you invite someone into your home. You’re standing on your mission field.
When you take someone out to coffee. You’re standing on your mission field.
Because…
Your child calling out to you, “Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama!” {on repeat}
needs to the gospel.
The college girl who walks through your door to babysit
needs the gospel.
The girl behind the checkout counter at the grocery store
needs the gospel.
This is why discipleship matters.
But how will they know, if they do not hear?
Friend, your feet are beautiful.
You take the good news of the gospel with you wherever you go.
~
Do you believe it?
Do you live it?
Tune in next time ~ we will attempt to define what discipleship looks like for the everyday mom.
Go back and read the first Dare to Disciple post.
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