There's a Lady I Know...

People here and people there; people from the past and some in our present. Family, dear friends, and some who brush through our lives for only a moment. Then there are some who impact our lives forever and there is one in particular I would like to write about today. I will not use her name, but this is a wonderful story that is unfolding even now. A story of a childhood filled with neglect and abandonment; abuse and heartache sometimes too horrible to mention. Yet the love of God pursued her. Even when she would push Him away because she had learned to trust no one, not even God, He showed up at different times and she was briefly aware of Him. She would say 'NO' and go her own way and her own way led to more tragedy, sorrow, and a hunger for love and acceptance that hurt so bad she wondered what the reason for living could possibly be. She'd tried to end it all a few times, but that was in reality a cry for help. Help never seemed to come. I met my little friend a few years ago and was allowed 'a foot in the door' to her lonely life. She let me in, but not to stay. We lost touch for a time and reconnected in recent months. I find it amazingly wonderful how powerful the love of Jesus can be... will always be. I purposed in my heart to love this woman who had so much baggage that even together, we could not carry it all, nor did we want to. My prayer has been, "Lord, let her always see You in me. Let me decrease as You increase in her field of vision." Her tendency was to become dependent on me, but that could not be allowed. I am nothing without God and because of my own frailties and weaknesses, would be sure to disappoint her. "Lord, please let her see You, become dependent on You, know You as her friend who sticks closer than a brother. Lord please set her free to enjoy the fullness of who You have called her to be!" I did not want to be her only earthly friend. I am learning the importance of community myself. We desperately need a Savior, but we need each other as well, don't we? My sweet friend, who was trying to be so tough out of this survival mode she'd learned to live in, began to come to what we call Lifegroup with my husband and me. She let a few tears fall as she was overwhelmed at seeing such love; still she did not feel a part of that love or our small band of believers. How could she, without knowing the One who is love? We encouraged her to keep coming, made sure she had a Bible to read and we prayed.. and we prayed. My friend would stumble and fall back into her destructive lifestyle and could not believe we would still want to be her friend; that we would still 'take her back in'. What else could we do? Isn't that what Jesus would do? Isn't that what He did for all of us? Who are we to say that anyone is not worth loving and caring about? One night at lifegroup my friend voiced a desire to give her heart to Jesus. She asked Him to come into her life and we all knew things were about to change. We also knew that the enemy of our souls would try to steal everything good that had begun in her. Of course, that is exactly what happened. There is a battle of righteousness against evil, isn't there; always has been and always will be until the Prince of Peace Himself comes to earth to reign. Praise God He has already come within our hearts if only we'll let Him in. So, again, my friend felt like a loser. Her failure to live up to the standard she thought God required of her to earn His love, as she saw it, was just too big and she wanted to give up... again. But did she really want to give up? I don't think so, or she wouldn't have called to see what I would say about it. "Lord God!" I prayed, "Please give me Your wisdom, Your compassion and patience to invest into my friend's life as You would. Help her to see that your love does not rest on what she is capable of doing or accomplishing, but on Your very nature to love her unconditionally and without compromise." My faith has been stretched to the limit in recent weeks, but seeing the reward of this precious lady surrender her past, her present, and her future to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has been and continues to be worth it all. This coming Sunday, we will baptize my little friend because she saw in her Bible that God asked her to do it as a sign of surrender to her old life and to be raised together with Him into her new life... "Translated out of darkness into His marvelous Light". We may not be able to change the world, but what a privilege to be instrumental in changing one life at a time. Surely, "every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord". And I say, "Here am I Lord, send me."