Friday, September 4, 2009

Humbled by Steadfast Love

Have you ever been humbled? I'm not necessarily talking about the kind of humility that comes after a spell of selfish pride. But, the kind of humility that is a result of grasping how much God loves you. Recently, my family and I went back to my hometown of 20 years to visit relatives and dear friends at my home church. We had a fabulous time of food, fellowship, food, fun, food, and (did I mention there was food?). It was wonderful to see folks come out to celebrate my new marriage and show their overwhelming support. That was just it...it was overwhelming...in such an amazing, God-kind of way. There were people from my home church, who were well into their nineties that made a point to come and see my family and I. I grew up in this church for 20 years, from the nursery to the college and career class. And every passing year of my childhood, I would smile and hug the adults of my church...yet, I oftentimes (to my disadvantage) failed to truly get to know them...to hear their stories...to learn from their wisdom. During this last trip, however, I had the chance to talk with two amazing women from my church...two women that I saw every single Sunday since I was 3 years old...two women that faithfully served in our church...two women who have prayed for me since I was a little girl...two women that appeared to be "behind the scenes" in my life, but were actually apart of the "great cloud of witnesses" in my personal walk with the Lord. God humbled me as I heard some of their life stories for the very first time- their stories of faith, their pursuit of God, their perseverance through hardship, and their genuine love for Jesus. To think that all of those years had past and I had never took the time to really KNOW them. And, to think that these women had been faithfully praying for me, caring for me, and loving me. I was truly humbled by God's amazing grace...channeled through these precious saints and daughters of the King.
Lord, may I have such an impact on the next generation...continue to humble me with Your love.

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