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But God...



I recently accepted a position as the communications specialist for a church in the town where I live with my husband, and the pastors of the church asked me to share part of my testimony during tonight's service. This is what I shared:

I spent eight years as a high school English teacher, but at the end of the last school year, I felt God's call to leave the classroom. I didn't know exactly what that would mean for me, but here I am in this new position. In June, I married the love of my life, and the past six months have been a period of adjusting to the new roles of wife and stepmom while also adjusting to the loss of the title of teacher. But this period of change isn't new to me.

I am twenty-nine years old. Throughout my life, I've moved twenty-two times. I've lived in seventeen houses in ten different cities and in three different states. And those numbers don't even account for the six different dorm rooms I lived in when I was in college.

You see, I grew up in a single-parent household, and where we lived often had a lot to do with what kind of job my mom had and how much outside support we were given. My mother was an incredibly hard worker, and my extended family was always very supportive, but we still struggled. When I was in high school, my mom began her battle with health conditions that made it impossible for her to work, and by the end of my junior year, we were on the verge of homelessness. By the grace of God, our family stepped in before things got that bad, and our situation improved for a while.

But during my senior year of high school, we faced another struggle. I was diagnosed with a medical condition that typically plagues middle-aged people, and at seventeen years old, I was at risk of having a heart attack. In 2009, I had a medical procedure done to treat the condition, and scientifically speaking, I'm only here today because of a medication that I will take every day for the rest of my life. In my early twenties, I started suffering from pain associated with fibromyalgia, yet another condition that I'm often seen as too young to face. And it's HARD. Some days I wake up in so much pain that I'm unsure of whether I'm going to be able to face the day. But something always gets me up, something always pulls me through. 

Through it all, I've learned that two of the most powerful phrases in the Bible are "in the beginning" and "but God." In the beginning, the earth was formless and empty, but God created the Heavens and earth. In the beginning I was poor, but God blessed me with a rich life. In the beginning, I was sick and struggled to get out of bed some days, but God healed me and pulled me through. In the beginning, I was lost and uncertain, but God gave me direction and stability in my soul. In the beginning, we all faced Death, but God overcame the grave for us so that we could spend eternity with Him.

I've faced a lot of new beginnings in my life. I've had to make a lot of changes, and it's never easy. But I've learned that if I allow Him to, God will use those new beginnings and create something beautiful. And that beautiful creation that is my life is going to extend well beyond my time on this earth. For every battle I've faced, I've been given even more blessings. I've suffered, but I've also rejoiced. I have an incredible family, loyal friends, a roof over my head, and when I wake up each morning, the sun is still shining somewhere. 

Change is hard; it can be scary not knowing what comes next. But God has something more beautiful in store for us. 

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