Anywho, he'd been in Vancouver since last Tuesday and spoke to Hazel Dell Church of Christ about evangelism last Wednesday-Sunday. I wasn't able to go Wednesday-Friday because one thing after another came u (i.e. great-grandma in hospital, babysitting...) But I was able to go yesterday and was super glad I went because it really helped me renew my slipping faith.
The past 2 years have been super difficult for me. I won't go into too many details this time, but I've just had A LOT of family issues. It's been especially hard for me to deal with because I've been at school and everything was happening back at home. But of course I had to stay at school, so I was feeling 50 different emotions all at once.
Everything just kept piling up and piling up like one big, awful mountain and I couldn't handle it anymore. So I slept. And slept. And got sick. And then slept some more. I tried to occupy my time with school, work, and Iota Chi to fill that hole in my heart. Growing up in a religious family, I know it was silly for me to try and fill that void with things other than God, but I was mad about everything that was happening and I just didn't feel like going to church. I justified it by the fact that I had chapel Monday thru Friday and Bible every Tuesday and Thursday. But as the semester went on, even Bible class was a struggle to go to. Heck, all my classes were a struggle to go to. It is seriously a miracle that I scraped by with a 2.0 GPA this spring.
Then I went from a super stressful spring to a super stressful summer. My parents' are moving to China in August and so we moved out of their house in Arizona at the end of May and moved in with my sisters' up in Vancouver (not B.C.), WA (not D.C.). My sisters' live in a 2 bedroom apartment. There are 7 people currently living there. It's very close quarters to say the least. There's been some issues there and just issues with the fact that I'm not 1800 miles away to ignore my family issues. We're all in a little apartment having to deal with it all. It's not been a fun or enjoyable time some days.
But yesterday, listening to Willie Franklin preach, really changed me and I'm so glad it did. I was feeling sad and depressed about being sad and depressed and that it was affecting my spiritual life so much since I allowed it to. All it took was to hear one lesson from a phenomenal speaker and I was healed. I went up to Willie after church and said thank you for such a great lesson. He called me sis and then told me that he was praying for me. When I went for evening worship that night, he was really excited to see each and every one of us. He again told me that he was praying for me and then gave me a great big hug when I had to leave. I wish we had more people in the world like Willie Franklin.
Willie reminds me of a passage I read in Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution. It's a really great book and I always feel so spiritually refreshed after reading it. Buy it, ebook it, or borrow it from the library or a friend. It's life changing. I'll leave you with this quote.
Until next time.
"And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers. People who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about."
-Shane Claiborne
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