Because He FIRST Loved Me

I received a comment yesterday from a blogger who was new to my site and I felt the need to respond. Her comment was so lovely, sweet, and encouraging and also the perfect platform to explain the AMAZING GOODNESS OF GOD to my family. The honest answer to her hint at the character of my family lies totally and completely with JESUS CHRIST!

Here is what Sunshine wrote:


Hey - I loved this post - I was reading on "Embracing my Cup" which led me to you...as I was reading on your blog I found out that Ashley is your niece. I read her blog EVERY day - this is so cool. You are just as sweet as your brother and sister in law. You must have amazing parents to be so precious and to have such a precious brother. I hope you guys have an awesome night. Sunshine

(I LOVE her name, by the way!)

First of all, I just want to tell Sunshine, thank you, for being an encourager and taking the time to say when you have admiration in your heart. So many people let those things go unsaid.

Secondly, yes, my parents are awesome! They are generous, kind-hearted people who worked hard their whole lives to give us the very best of all that they had. My dad is the same as a parent as he is with everything - fair and methodical. Growing up, he was patient with us whether tutoring us in homework every night or showing us how to woodwork in his shop. But he would also step us to discipline us when we needed it. (And just for the record, I'll say that my brother needed it more....though that may or may not actually be true. :) ) Dad has always worked hard at a sometimes stressful job so that my mother could be a stay-at-home mom. And my mom used that calling to the fullest, not content to just be a good home maker, but also a real role model. She has volunteered for both organizations and especially individuals for as long as I can remember. She has done everything from bake cupcakes for the school party to prison ministry to leading a pros*titut*e to Christ and then becoming her best friend. She is the best listener I think that God ever created and crafty and creative to boot. That is why I chose her to be the matron of honor in my wedding.

Both my parents insisted on humility from my brother and I and raised us with good morals and values...........BUT.....

We were not a Christian family.

During my time growing up in my parents home, I can only recall but a mere handful of times I attended a church, all of them different denominations and all but one because I had spent the night with a friend and gone to church with their family. Sundays to us were for mowing the lawn and watching football. And I don't really have memories of anyone in our circles of acquaintances attending church either. For me, it wasn't something I thought about. I didn't have enough knowledge of God to even know TO think about it. I had heard the term "God", sure, but the most thought I gave to Him was that of some intangible ideal. A mere word to describe who was responsible for things that couldn't easily be explained. Nothing more. I certainly never ascribed to God the idea of personhood or even personality or entity.

In college, through an INCREDIBLE set of circumstances that would take a book (but it would be an awesome read) to explain, God saw fit to make me aware of Him. For the first time in my life, I remember hearing the word "Savior" and having it explained to me. I heard about Jesus and His love for me and the way that He proved it by dying upon an old rugged cross as payment for MY sin! (And between high school and early college, there had been plenty of it, I can assure you. Let's just say, God built in me a testimony sufficient to deal with teenagers and not be surprised by a whole lot they tell me.) Then one by one, my family has come to know Him as well.

Even after salvation, I have made many mistakes. I have hurt and disappointed God and others at times. I have sometimes behaved as if there had never been a change in my heart. But those were the times that I looked away from Him and His grace. Those were the times I chose flesh and selfishness over serving Him. Or tried to "do the right thing," but in my own power and way, because I was too impatient to wait upon the Lord. If there is ANY THING good in me and my family, then God deserves 100% of the praise! And Sunshine, I do not mean to diminish your compliment one tiny bit or to make light or seem unappreciative. Quite the opposite! You encourage me when you say that you see something good in our character, because what you see is Him! Jesus! Even when I am not being so easy for Him to shine through, HE still makes the effort. HE takes all my shortcomings and turns them for good. JESUS came into this family who knew basically nothing of Him and gave us a new legacy! One that is available to WHOSOEVER WILL CALL UPON HIS NAME.

If ever there was a girl who people could point to and say "She is just not the "church" type, it was me! If ever there was somebody very distant from this knowledge, it was my family. So thank you, Sunshine. God has used you to let me explain very honestly, how it all comes back to Him. All we do is let Him, because we've all lived the other way and fallen flat on our backs. All we do is keep reaching out for Him, because we remember the times when we didn't, and we don't want to go there again. He does all the work, shines forth all the good, gives all the grace, and then, miraculously, chooses to bless us with it.

And after looking around Sunshine's blog for a little bit, it is evident she knows exactly what I am talking about!