We Are Those People

(Image courtesy of Danilo Razzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

I know you've all read my rants about my slow, painful realization that I am an actual-factual, bona-fide adult. How it wasn't something I wanted. How it snuck up on me. How there are still days when I feel like I'm faking my way through it. And, yet, it's true. I'm a grown up. Seems strange to think about being something without realizing it, but I'm beginning to suspect that happens more often than we know. For example - I have so many people that I look up to. You know - people who inspire. Who live lives of greatness. Who have exemplary marriages, families, homes. Most of all, I am in awe of people who have unyielding and enduring faith  That's what impresses me. That's what encourages me. That's what I want to be. But, maybe that's what I already am - at least to someone. And (ready for it?) maybe you are too.

I got to thinking about this a few weeks ago while on the phone with my best friend, Lee Ann. During our daily phone conversation we were discussing the typical things that mature ladies talk about -  communicable childhood diseases, mortgage rates, thirty-minute meal recipes, how to clean pet stains out of carpet, politics. You know - the usual. Then, our conversation turned to her new Bible study group. Now, Lee Ann and I have discussed everything that has ever happened in our lives since the moment the first one of us learned our first word. Possibly even before then. So, the fact that our conversation was about the Bible was far, far from shocking. What was shocking, though, when I stopped to really, REALLY listen, was the wisdom of the words coming out of my friend's mouth.

Don't get me wrong - Lee Ann has always been a smart girl, and has a relationship with the Lord that has been tested and proven firm many times, in many ways. It's just, this is also the same person who once owned a pet raccoon, let out a cuss word in the middle of Vacation Bible School (right in front of the teacher!), and is from the same backwoods, redneck Oklahoma town that I am. (And those are just the things I can write about...) But, during the course of our conversation, she talked eloquently and humbly about the many times and ways she's witnessed in her community, reassured young believers, followed the leading of the Spirit (even when it was reallllly hard to do so), encouraged her husband and her children in their faith, etc, etc, etc. I couldn't help but think to myself - when had my best friend gotten so darn wise?

And then it hit me - she is one of those people. One of the people who inspire. Who live lives of greatness. Who have exemplary marriages, families, homes. Most of all, she is a person with unyielding and enduring faith. She impresses me. She encourages me. She is one of those people. And I was talking to her. Indeed - I was talking with her; engaged in the conversation as fully as she was. I was (could it be true?) holding up my end of this profound spiritual discussion with this profoundly wise woman almost as well as she was. Imagine the shock of finding out - all on the same day - that not only has your best friend become a wise, mature woman of the Lord, but you have too! I tell you, people, I was amazed.

Let me assure you - this was not a revelation that was easy to accept. Every time I would start to see in myself the same habits and attributes that I have long admired about others (spiritual maturity! lasting, happy marriage! love of the scripture! healthy prayer life!) I would start to see myself, and doubt would creep in. You know what I mean about seeing myself? I mean I would be reminded of those deep, dark, dirty things that I don't like about myself. That I wish weren't true. That I wish I hadn't done. That I wish were different. They kept echoing through my mind whenever I considered the idea that maybe - just maybe - God really could use me to do great things in the earth. To change people's lives. To make a difference. To further His kingdom. I wanted to believe, but somehow I though that surely someone like deep, dark, dirty ol' me couldn't ever really be one of those people. 

It could have ended there. I could have let myself believe the lies. Sink back into oblivion. Let my past derail my future. But, I didn't. Do you want to know why? It's all about choices. I have decided that God meant what He said when he declared that he would use the foolish and weak to put the wise and mighty to shame. I have decided that I can't believe in the full, redemptive work of the cross for others unless I believe it for myself as well. I have decided that if God could use a drunk like Noah, a womanizer like Samson, an adulterer like David, a prostitute like Mary Magdalene, and a denier like Peter, then surely He can use me too. Right?

But, most of all, I have decided that the world needs more people who inspire. Who live lives of greatness. Who have exemplary marriages, families, homes. Most of all, who have unyielding and enduring faith. And, though I will never, ever, in a bajillion years achieve those things on my own, through His spirit I can. Yep. I choose to believe that all of that good stuff can be mine - not because I am so great, but because my God is.

So, if two flawed (but fabulous, if I do say so myself) grown-up girls from Oklahoma can be those people, I'm pretty sure that means you can too. What are you waiting for? There's a whole world out there in need of people just like us.