3 Little Words

I haven't been here for a while, and I truly apologize for that.

I have started school again (a new semester) and I have been really, really, busy. I know that's no excuse when it comes to sharing feelings, life encounters, and testimonies.

A couple Sundays ago I was sitting in church listening to the sermon about invitations, testimonies, and witnessing, not giving any thought to applying this sermon into my life, and then sharing it with you. It was a normal sermon with a very good message. But this message followed me for the next couple weeks.

Influence

Invitation

Witnessing

What do they have in common?

Let's see:

Influence is the power of a person to be a compelling force on the actions, behavior, and opinions of others.

Invitation - Something offered as a suggestion.

Witnessing - To bear witness to; testify to, give, or afford evidence of.

Did you know that every single human being offers an influence to someone else in their life? It's true! Even a baby offers influence (the influence to be pure, a new life, a new beginning).

So, what do those three words have in common?

Every one of them offers something to others. How we use them and apply them in our lives is up to each one of us.

Usually when you throw out the word witnessing, people see fear, or they want to run in the opposite direction. But if the word is used correctly it can be very beneficial to the people around us.

During the church sermon that I sat through, the minister asked if each one of us could complete a 3 minute testimony message. And there is a reason why I want to complete this three minute testimony. You will see the reason why later.

The testimony consists of three questions:

1. What were you like before Jesus entered your life?

To be honest right now, I didn't like the person I was years ago. I was constantly angry, trying to place blame on other's for the way my life was going, and I couldn't see my future clearly. I was doing a slide and feel in the darkness searching for that open door expecting things to just appear to make my life better. There was no light to show me the way.

There was (at least I think so) a reason for my anger. I was very angry at God for letting my life be so uprooted, so out of sync. Quite a few years ago my ex husband was bound and determined to prove me an unfit mother. He tricked the judge into signing an ex-parte, and in an instant my children were gone, taken from me, and I was ordered limited visitation.

I threw my hands in the air and screamed, "What did I do to deserve this?", curled up in a ball in the corner of my bedroom and stayed there for three days. I was nothing without my children. After the three day pity-party I picked myself up and got to work.....I hired the best attorney in my area, joined online groups dealing with the same situation, and collected proof that my ex was wrong. I had to spend a year proving to the judge that I was innocent. But I was still angry with God through that whole year, and then some.....The God that I know would never have let that happen and I was very angry with Him for a long time.

2. When did Jesus enter your life, and how did it happen?

Three years ago when I first placed myself back in school (I'm 43) I was required to complete a religion class. I cringed at the thought. I didn't want anything to do with religion. I started the class and was assigned to research many different types, styles, and denominations of religion. I quickly realized I was a lost soul. The religion class caused me to question my faith, my life as whole, and where am I really suppose to be? Enough was enough!! I was raised in the United Methodist Church, attended every Sunday with my parents, so that is where I headed back to. The first Sunday service that I sat through I knew immediately that that is where I was supposed to be. I cried like a baby, asked for forgiveness, and a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. The light came on, and guess what? I have found that open door. With God's help and guidance I know exactly where I am going in my life. I am happy again!! And I can see clearly.

3. How has it changed your life?

How has this changed my life? How has this changed my life? I could keep asking myself that question over and over and still not find the correct answer, but I do know one thing, I can see the miracles around me. I can see the good in people. I can see reasoning in situations that I think are not suppose to happen. For example, the experience I went through when I had to fight for the return custody of my children. That situation made me a stronger person, a loving mother, and a protector of my young (like a mama bear).

The miracles that I see, and this is the one important thing that I want to share with you. Last Wednesday my daughter's best friend (Chelsea) was in a car accident. A very bad car accident. The paramedics had to cut her out of the car by using the jaws of life. She was then transported by air to a trauma unit an hour away. What is the miracle in this, you ask? The miracle is, my daughter was suppose to be in that car. At the last minute after school my daughter decided not to go with her, and came home instead. Do I see angels at work here? Do I see God's directing hand here? I sure do!! Am I glad that I have Him walking by my side? I sure am!

This is my witness to you, my 3 minute testimony...This is how my life has changed...This is how I will continue my life....I am in good hands, and you can be too.

So when are you going to apply those three words in your life (influence, invitation, and witnessing).

From left: Virginia, Randi, and Chelsea

Three terrific peas in a pod....

Just a little more information: Chelsea is a survivor. She broke all the bones in her right leg, suffered some pelvic damage, is banged up and bruised, but she will be fine. God was watching over her too. We love you Chels!!

Lonely

Once again, it's a new semester at college, my last semester, and I am stuck in classrooms with pimple faced/snot-nosed kids. Okay, maybe I shouldn't view them that way. They are educating themselves just like I am, and the young generation that I am schooling with is our future in leadership. But I can't help feeling like that odd peanut M & M that you find in the bottom of the bag. The one that is either odd shaped or missed the chocolate coating all together.....I am 43 (stale) sitting in a classroom of 20 year olds (brand new). They say that my life experiences and wisdom are good for the young'ns, but I can't help feeling like the minority, the lonely, the oddball, the old fogy......

Do you have any suggestions on how to make myself more comfortable? I am not hard to get along with, and I usually don't struggle with conversation, just feel like an outcast, alien, and they will all laugh at you (Carrie).

I definitely match up with the definition of minority:

a. The smaller in number of two groups forming a whole (young and old).

b. A group or party having fewer than a controlling number of votes (I sit alone while the young students form their teams. The ones that went to high school together and know each other from grade school.)

As my classmates form teams to work with throughout the semester, I sit there quietly, not knowing anyone, and waiting to be invited.

I feel like the last kid standing in a kick-ball team call out. The one that no one wants to have playing on their team. The one that has no coordination, no team effort, the one with the nerd glasses that are taped with white tape at the bridge of the nose.....

But as I look around the classroom at my young classmates, I think about the space around them. I am observing a thought (they are so young and I don't really fit in here). I have the uncomfortable feeling, but there is a part of me that is observing this feeling. When I focus on the observation, the space around the problem, I dethatch from the problem or situation, and I can then begin to focus on and transform it. I can change this uncomfortable feeling I have and focus more on the similarities. We are all going to school for the same thing, to better our future, to make a mark in our lives, and to better educate ourselves.

To explain the observation part; we all think, right? When we have a thought we are constantly observing that thought. We ask ourselves questions about the thought and try to bring ourselves to an understanding of why we are thinking the way we are. That is the observation part of a thought, the space around it. The space around my thoughts on age difference (painful) needs to be closed. I need to come to a peace with my thoughts and focus on the similarities. When I close that gap of observation, my life will become normal and change for the good. I have to give what is going on in school a new meaning, a new power, a new peace. I need to give my (young) classmates a chance to let me mold with them.

And this little ditty came through my email today, which gives me strength and courage: God has seen you struggling with something. God says it's over. A Blessing is coming your way.

My Blessing I believe is, I do have the strength to make it through this last semester of college even though I am surrounded by the young.

Hugs for Always,

Angie