Have you seen moving and surprising transformations in the lives of the people you love? What was that like?
She was always so fun to be
around growing up. Laughter was a constant and toys guaranteed but her presence
never was. She would cancel last minute when we were hoping to see her.
Disappointed once again, my mom told her over the phone that she was going to
stop telling us when she was coming to visit, so we would not get our hopes us,
as I listened from outside the door.
What I lacked in knowledge then,
I understood later. My aunt lived a different life style and always came to
visit with her friend, a friend that was a girl and shared a bed with her. Her
friends were always sweet, playing with us and braiding our hair and I never thought anything of it. As I got
older, it became common knowledge that my aunt was a lesbian and she liked to
party, have her drugs and smoke them, too.
When we met again that Christmas,
I had a hard time believing the stories that she told about Jesus and how he
had saved her and how she was no longer a lesbian after all these years and her
concern about us living together before we were married. I stood next to
Ricardo, listening to these words and wondering what she was smoking now, in
disbelief, while she sat on the edge of the fireplace ledge looking up at us.
Ricardo had never met her and I had to catch him up on her background and such
as we left.
It was a while before we saw her
again but she still claimed her same salvation through Jesus and denied any
claims of being a lesbian. During this time God starting revealing himself to
us and we found him, too as we started attending the college group at my aunt's
church.
And as we saw her more
frequently, her claims become more apparent in her personality and her
transformation was solid. She spoke encouraging words to us as learned the
ropes of what it meant to follow Jesus, always supporting us in any way
possible like being our last minute babysitter and getting certified for
respite care once we became foster parents.
God has used her to teach me
lessons, like how to get used to people stopping by unannounced, even though I
always thought I welcomed it, and how to let go of my children a bit more as
they enjoyed time with her in her blue Ford truck. She has taken pleasure in
being an aunt a second time around and we have been blessed to have her. She
has traded alcohol for Dr. Pepper and zeal for the world in to boldness for
Jesus. These days she is serving in prison ministry and helping out friends
whose husbands have passed and taking care of her Chihuahua.
What I love about God is his
relentless pursuit for us since the fall in the garden of Eden. No matter how
far lost we think someone is, there is always an encounter with Jesus that can
change everything. Even the family member we have deemed unable to be saved.
Nothing is impossible with the Lord.
Here's to surprises and transformation.
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This is part of a 365 day blogging series through Savor by Shauna Niequist. If you would like to blog along, whether daily or weekly, I would love to have you for the journey; be sure to link back to the post. And if you are not a blogger, you can join along, too. Just leave your response and answers in the comments.