Light Up The Darkness

Yesterday I was sitting in one of my classes. This class is a freshman class (I need it for my minor), full of young adults who are out on their own for the first time. My professor has a very poor view of basically everything except his daughter and his Greek heritage. He has said some pretty outrageous things, but none that bother me as much as what he said yesterday.

He told the class that Christian's believe God sent His only son to save them (referring to Christians) from punishment for their sins, and to take their sorrows away. For the most part what he was saying was true. However, then he said that we (Christians) use that to justify what we do wrong, and that it prevents us from having to take responsibility for our actions. He followed that up by asking why we would ever want someone else to take our sorrows from us. He stated that our sorrows (as if they were an object), belonged to us and no one else could take them from us.

I sat there in a state of shock because of what I had heard. I wasn't angry at him, but I felt kind of bad for him. Watching the way that he talked about the Christian way of life, I noticed that his eyes had some hurt behind them. He acknowledged the fact, that God sent His only son to save us. That statement right there meant that he at the very least knows that Jesus came to save us. All I kept thinking though, was that this man of authority was talking to a group of young adults who are at a very vulnerable place in their lives.

I felt so extremely blessed at that moment because inside of me is the love of Jesus Christ. I get the peace in my heart because I know that no matter what I am facing, God is facing it with me. We are called to give our sorrows to God and I gladly hand them over. I have never seen sorrow as a thing to keep tucked away as my own thing. There is such a relief in turning everything over to God.

God sent His son so that we would be forgiven, it doesn't mean that all of our actions are justified. It also doesn't mean we don't have to take responsibility. We are called to take responsibility and repent for our sins. We are not perfect, we are human which means that we are never going to be perfect. Just because we know the love of Jesus Christ, doesn't mean that we can do whatever we want in His name. We are responsible for our actions and our sins. Christianity is not a get out of jail free card.

I called upon many of my praying friends to pray for this professor, and pray for the students in the class that are listening to what this professor is saying. My heart was so heavy hearing what he has been telling them about God and about having faith. He is a very lost man, and there is something missing in his life. The missing piece is God. Until he gives his life to God, his misery will continue. What good is it to keep your sorrow to yourself. It will just continue to bring misery to your life.

Sometimes I question why I bothered going to a secular school. I wonder why God brought me here. Was it just to hear how bad Christians are, or how hypocritical we are? No, its not. God has to remind me that He brought me here for a reason. Listening to this professor made me realize that my job here is huge. Its a major responsibility but I have to bring God into this school. I need to be the light of Christ in the midst of darkness. The darkness will try to suck us all in, but I have to remain strong and show that God is a God of mercy, He takes away our worry, He takes away our pain AND our sorrows. He sent His one and only son to save us! That my friends is what keeps me from falling apart at this secular school surrounded by non-believers.

I am calling you to pray for that professor, and the students listening to him speak. I am also asking you to pray for the Christians on this campus, because we have a hard job to do. Pray that our light remains prominent and bright in this darkness. There is power in numbers and we can't go another day without sharing our wonderful God.

My Healer and Comforter

Since the start of school I have been longing to blog, but when I wasn't sleeping, I was doing a million other things. Sleeping and blogging had to be moved to the bottom of my list. Between what I have to get done here, and what I have to get done at home, I really had no "me" time where I could sit and write out my thoughts. Since the last time I posted, many things have happened. Some things bad, and some things good.

For now I want to give a testimony of what happened to me on the first day of my senior year. Let me preface this by saying, that I wanted this senior year to be better than my high school senior year was. The night of my first day of school, I had praise team. So I got in my car and started heading toward the church. On my way, I was hit (in my car) by a truck. I can still picture in my head, the headlights as they hit the drivers side door. There was no where I could go, and if  I swerved I would have hit a telephone pole, on the passengers side where my sister was.

It was the scariest moment of my life and all I could do was pray. Though the car was really damaged, my sister and I were alive. My blood pressure shot up to the point where I really thought I was going to collapse. This was my first ever accident. I was scared, and all I knew was that I couldn't open my door and that the man who hit me was screaming at me. The first thought that popped into my head was thank you dear Lord. This accident could have been ten times worse if I had moved the car any other way.

Later, once we got my blood pressure under control, I was able to look at the car for the first time to see the damages. My drivers side window had so much pressure on it that it almost shattered. If that guy hit me even just a little bit harder the glass would have broken all over me. The what if game was a hard one to stay out of. I came out of this alive, I came out of this knowing that it was the grace of God that got me out of this alive and relatively unharmed (though there was a lot of soreness once the shock wore off).

I can say that my God is truly an awesome God. Since the accident I have learned a lot more about how to handle situations such as that one. I am blessed to have a God that loves me so much, that He saves my life over and over again. He keeps me safe, and His love is the reason I was able to get back on the road again and drive (though I don't drive right where the accident happened). Let this be a testimony to the power of Christ. He is our healer and He is our comforter, so may you find rest in Him, as I have found rest in Him.