Letter to a Friend

Ladies, this post is a little longer than normal and I hope you will forgive me.  I was thinking about what to write, and remembered a letter I recently wrote and included with a Bible I purchased for a friend of mine (her first “real” Bible).  She’s in her 30’s and had never read or owned her own Bible.  Our paths had crossed in an unlikely way, and God has been growing our friendship ever since.  Her experiences with Christians and church have not been the best, but in recent years she has been attending Browns Bridge and is learning about God. While she is not yet a Christian, I like to think of her as a “salvation waiting to happen.”  In my letter to her, I shared a little of my journey with regard to understanding God through His Word, and “hiding it in my heart.”  (For the record, I don’t normally keep the letters I write to others, but this one I had on my computer because it was written over several days  in between work and school stuff!)  I would love to share a portion of it with you:

When I was 18, I began to attend a church where I was hearing truth presented for the first time in a compelling way.  I had become a Christian at fifteen, but because of a bad church experience previously, I asked God if it would be ok if I skipped the ‘church thing’.  For three years that worked – and then my friend invited me to attend his church.  I can’t tell you exactly what Dr. Stanley preached on (it was Andy’s dad’s church), but there was a stirring in my soul that I could not explain.  It felt like light and life were bursting through a hard and cracked soil within me. I had no idea what was happening; all I knew was that I couldn’t get enough of the truth being taught by someone who understood the Scriptures.  I suspect you have probably experienced similar responses while hearing Andy’s messages!

I didn’t have my own Bible to bring to church or read.  I had never owned one.  So, my friend gave me one for my birthday!  It was red leather with gold leafing, and my name was engraved on the front.  It was in a box and wrapped with clear cellophane.  It smelled the way new leather smells.  I thanked him and told him how nice it was for him to do that; and then I took it home and sat it on my desk.  I wanted to open it, but I was afraid to.  I had a feeling that once I tore that cellophane wrapper off and opened it up to read the pages within…well, I knew somehow that my life would never be the same again.  I just knew that there would be no turning back for me – and I was scared.  I was scared because I knew it would be the beginning of a journey that I could not control or predict (not that I had been doing so great prior to that. I had not.  All I had been doing was fighting hard to pretend I was in control and tough and had my act together….it was exhausting, but at least it was me calling the shots, so to speak). 

I think it must have taken me a good three weeks before I finally decided that I wanted to know God through His Word more than I wanted to keep holding Him safely at arms length.  I didn’t know what I would learn or what the journey would require from me.  I didn’t know anything….except that somehow, I could trust God to show Himself to me and take care of me.  Well, the cellophane came off!  I flipped to the maps in the back, looked at the table of contents, read through some of the introductory stuff….and now, 24 years later all I can say is I would not trade a moment – not one! 

While I don’t know what your experience will be, what I do know is that you won’t regret any time or energy you invest in knowing and understanding God through His Word, and experiencing His great love for you page by glorious page.  The Scriptures were written over a long span of time covering the stories of men and women we regard as “heroes of the faith”; and while the actual Bible itself is complete, God is still writing stories today - through the lives of those who love Him and have responded to His gift of grace (Jesus) through faith.  I want your life to be a real page-turner – an exciting and gripping tale of a strong and mighty God working in and through you – His beloved daughter. 

I want you to know that what you do with this gift from this point forward is up to you.  You will determine how deeply you will go with this God who loves you.  One of the ways will be through the reading and studying of His Word – I know it’s weird in some places and some things won’t make sense and honestly, some parts are going to be tougher than others…but it’s the best way I know to get to know who God is, what He has to say about who you are, who He is in you, and how to live and enjoy life with Him. 

My prayer is that you will take each next step of faith – and allow God to heal the places within you that are broken, and experience His peace and contentment every single moment of every single day - oh yes, and that you will have great joy as you experience the fun of living a life that is wholly pleasing to God through the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through you!  You are my friend, and I love and care about you –

PS – if you don’t know where to begin, here are some faves of mine:

Psalm 1

Wisdom begins with God.  If you want to be wise and enjoy life, seek to know God.  This may have been one of the first psalms I memorized because I wanted so badly to live as a wise person!  I have always struggled with feeling stupid; this psalm reminds me of where true wisdom is found – and from whom I am to seek it.

Psalm 19

I’ve always loved stargazing.  When I was young, I used to stare up into the evening sky and wonder who made such marvelous guardians of the night, faithfully showing up again and again to keep watch over us!  I love the stars and marvel at our universe, and this psalm captures the evidence of God in nature, and the truth of His word.

Psalm 139

I think this is one of the first, if not the first, psalm I memorized. I learned this psalm because I was fascinated about the fact that God knew me so intimately!  The first six verses show the extent to which He “sees” and understands us completely, not as a mass of people lumped together – but as uniquely hand-crafted individuals…no one like another (He’s way too creative for that)!  It also helped me greatly when I was processing thru painful seasons of my past – it comforted me to know that He saw every harm done to me, He grieved with me in my sorrow, and He stood with me in the midst of situations that were out of my control and wrecked my soul.   And the line, “even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day – darkness and light are alike to You.” was particularly intriguing to me.  It was a great visual of how before God all things are fully revealed – not to scare us from Him, but to comfort us in knowing there is nothing that escapes Him in this world – no injustice, offense, betrayal, abuse, oppression, or harm…He sees it all.  Plus, I just love knowing He’s been intimately involved with me long before I became aware of it. 

I realize I could keep going on and on, but to spare you – here’s just a few more:

Ephesians 2:8-10

Salvation is a gift from God, by grace, through faith in Christ, to the glory of God.  You can’t earn or behave your way into salvation, and you can’t under-perform or misbehave your way out of it either – God’s grace is scandalous, if you really think about it…

Galatians 2:20

Christ lives in you – and your life is now lived by faith…not works.

Romans 8:1

If you are in Christ, you are free from condemnation – that’s part of the scandalous nature of grace, too!

Romans 12:1,2
As children of God, we are able to present ourselves to God as living sacrifices, dying to ourselves so that we may be fully alive in Him. We are invited to renew our minds through the power of God’s Word so that we can experience new outcomes, new ways of living, new ways of thinking…we aren’t bound by the old junk that we used to believe!

Again, these are all verses that I learned pretty early on when I really began to fall in love with Jesus.  You will discover your own that will mean so much to you personally, but in the interim, I thought these could get you started.  Also, ask God to give you wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of His Word.  He will answer that because He wants you to know and experience His great love for you!

I guess the reason I wanted to share this is because all of us have “first time” experiences to our journeys.  All of us have a first time our soul stirred in response to God’s Truth being spoken.  All of us have a first time we came face to face with the reality that following God was going to take us places we couldn’t possibly imagine.  All of us have a first time where a verse or portion of Scripture so struck us that we knew we had to learn it by heart.  All of us have a first time where we experienced healing and comfort through the written Word.  And for some of us whose “firsts” have long since past, it’s good to stop and remember those times, because we are surrounded by women who haven’t had their own ‘first anything’ with God yet. What a privilege for God to use us to help ready them for their first encounter with the Savior! 

Father, help us love Your Word and set our minds upon the timeless truths You’ve given us so that others may hear and know that You are real, you are good, and You alone are God.

My verse for this time around is Psalm 119:89, “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.”

I think the verse speaks for itself – the word of God is eternal and unchanging, just like our God.  I love that.