I was so delighted that weekend when my brothers told me that they were driving to the coast, and furthermore, they asked me to travel with them. You see, I was the only girl in my family suddenly, so I was constantly surrounded by boys, and if that was not enough, the neighborhood we moved into was a "boys town". So the only character that I could develop then was one of a boy. I would rock jeans sagged low and a hoodie, doubled up with a philosophy from here to Timbuktu. I learnt how to ride a bicycle on one that had no seat and no breaks.
(Of course, I discovered the breaks part while driving down a hill and tried them, but they didn’t work.) It is a miracle I am alive today. I had always wanted to do something like a road trip with my brothers, but they always left me out for one reason or the other. So when they invited me to do this, it was HUGE!! I packed my bags, and we went to the (coast.) You see, all through this I did not know God was setting me up for salvation, and even when I did not know Him, He knew me, and he knew my heart and its aspirations. So we started our journey and twenty minutes into the trip, we came across a nasty accident.
This, like for every other heathen, reminded me that we had not prayed and so we pulled over and said a quick one. Throughout the journey, I kept having this handicap in my heart to pray for us and to cover our vehicle with the blood of Jesus, and I did. I would get the words twisted and say things that did not make sense, like saying God... followed by an awkward silence, then murmur something to do with Jesus and the (blood) . I did not know then what was going on, so I would say amen and go back to looking for the hot clubs that we would visit when we got there. There was one specific time we were looking for parking outside the "hottest" club and I recall I started praying for our car not to be stolen. The feeling was so intense that I could not leave it (car) alone on the spot we had found.
My brothers felt it too and off we went in search of another club. When we got there, everything was so good and it was in the midst of some serious dancing and sipping bitter drinks that I remembered, "shoot, our car"!!! and I said a prayer for it. Today, I can boldly say that it is by God’s grace and mercy that I am saved. It is that blood that I was not sure of how to use in prayer that washed me clean. So many things happened during that trip that made me realize that there was a God in heaven. I understood the power of grace, that even when I was at the very heart of sin itself, God would still look at me, use me, and speak to me. It did not make sense then, but looking back now, I know that he does not call the qualified, and he is not in the business of looking for perfectionists or people who have it all together.
He is in the business of reaching down to the downcast and lost, who admit that they cannot do anything without Him, who are bold enough to say, "God, I do not know you. I have heard about you though, but now I want to know you." I have always asked God how come my life is filled with so much drama, yet I am not a drama queen... I hope. But every time I go through something difficult, I thank Him because I know that nothing in my life is in vain.
It may not be pretty, or may not even fit in the do’s and don’ts of a Christian, but that is how He teaches us lessons that we in turn help those who are going through such. I've learned to surrender to His will and His ways, which can be difficult at times, but whenever I remember that He loves me for who I am and will never abandon me, I can't help but smile through the storm.
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