My question was simple, or so I thought.
I asked what God was teaching her right now and was totally floored by her honesty and frankness.
“He is showing me how much I need to soften my heart towards Him and others, how much I manipulate people and circumstances to get my way, how much I disrespect my parents and how much I pass blame on my kids and husband rather than owning up to my part of the conflict.”
I sarcastically joked, “Wow, is that all?”
She smiled but then blurted out, “Nope! There’s more! He’s showing me that the root of allllllllll my poor relationships are because of my poor relationship with Him. How’s that for an answer?”
We both laughed.
She then flipped my own question around on me.
“What’s God teaching you right now, Miss Cindy?”
And before my mind could even formulate a cohesive answer, my mouth sort of jumped up and took over.
“He is showing me that a faith journey with Him is so much more than a performance. I don’t need to act a certain way, or have certain answers, or follow certain rules in order to live out real faith. Faith that performs is not at all the same thing as faith that understands, or faith that believes, or faith that surrenders, or faith that obeys. I just need to be who I am right now – with all my flaws and questions – and embrace what I’m learning and struggling through in this season of my life. I’m learning that this is what makes my faith with Him authentic and real.”
We laughed again because there we were, in the middle of Superstore, smack dab in the middle of the banana and potato displays, having a deep but light-hearted conversation about the journey we’re separately on / but on together.
Isn’t this what Christ means when we read:
Think of ways to motivate one another – Hebrews 10:24-25
As iron sharpens iron – Proverbs 27:17
Share each other’s burdens – Galatians 6:2
Where two or three are gathered – Matthew 18:20
It doesn’t matter where this happens as long as it happens.
How else are we going to live the way Christ calls us to live if we aren’t willing to ask each other difficult questions and be ready to answer difficult questions with honesty and frankness in the most unlikely of locations?
So I ask the same question to you.
“What is God teaching you right now?”
Email me. I’d love to know.
