Gods Grace From my earliest memories I remember going to church every Sunday with my family, saying a prayer after

meals and before bedtime, retelling the story of baby Jesus every Christmas Eve and wearing my new Easter dress to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. I grew up in a home that taught me Gods grace and His love for all humanity. Over the years the lessons in which my parents surrounded me with every Sunday became apart of my life and who I am today. Although I out rightly admit I have doubted, wandered, and lost my way down the path of Christ many times, the journey has also given me a sense of direction in my life. Without the strength of God, encouragement of my family, and support of my friends, I would have been pulled into the greedy hands of the world. Yet here I still stand with the word of God holding me in place to tell the stories that shaped my life and nurtured me into the young woman I am finding in myself. Whether you are open to the idea of a magnificent God, or the polar opposite, we all experience something significant in our life that forces us to reflect upon our life. Therefore, I present you with my story of how God blessed me with a lesson that changed my view of my purpose, my reason for breathing the air in my lungs which God grants me, a gift of love from the man who saved me and continues to direct my life. God first presented himself in my life, bluntly, when I was about 12 years old. My family and I were traveling to a KOA campsite in

SOMEWHERE for a relaxing vacation. Along the route we paused for a bathroom break at a rest stop where everyone exited the car, used the facilities and piled back in for another two hour ride to our destination. Finally, as our camper swung into the freshly mowed campground, my mother started searching for her purse. The longer she dug through the messy truck it became obvious that she had misplaced it. Come to find out, the purse was misplaced in the rest stop two hours behind us. My parents were frantic. The purse held reservations, credit cards, cash, and vital information to our family. Now it was assumed that the contents of the purse were in the hands of a stranger who would probably not care about the welfare of our family. Being young and naive, I simply started praying to God, just like my parents always told me to do in times of trouble. I told God that it would be nice if my mother could get her purse back so we could enjoy our vacation; I hated seeing my parents frazzled. Considering our options, my dad hesitantly started making camp at our spot in the campground while my mom started the two hour drive back to the rest stop where the purse had been forgotten. My brother and I were upset with the confusion so my father gave us a few dollars to buy some ice cream from the general store at the campground. Hand in hand, my brother and I walked to the store to buy our ice cream. As we waited in line, a lady came up to me and handed me a picture. Is this you?, she asked me. Cautiously, since I was taught to never talk to

strangers, I told the lady that yes that was me in the picture, along with my brother and parents. The wallet sized photograph was a family picture that my mother had kept in her purse. Well if this is you I think I have your mothers purse. She left it in the bathroom stall back at the rest stop. I saw that your family had reservations at this KOA campground and I am driving up this way as well and figured I would drop it off to you. I was completely taken back and unsure of what to do. The lady walked back with my brother and I to our campground where my father was ecstatic with the news that this wonderful lady had brought us my mothers purse. We could not have thanked her enough. The lady had saved my family many dollars, time, stress and a much needed vacation that could have been disastrous. Afterwards I told my parents about how I had prayed that God would give us back my mothers purse. The look my parents gave me when I told them this is something I wont forget. They admitted to me that they themselves had forgotten to pray, something they were humbled to realize, that they had forgotten Gods grace in a time of great need. The awe expression that covered my parents faces sticks with me to this day and I truly know that God had listened to my tiny prayer, as a twelve year old, and guided the sweetest lady into the bathroom stall after my mother. God had been watching over my family that summer. He not only saved our vacation but also presented a reminder of His love to my family, which had been forgotten in a time when we truly needed Him.

After this heart warming event my family was grateful and was given a lesson about the power of prayer to a magnificent God who is always listening and protecting. The purse story happened seven years ago but every time I reminisce the story of Gods protecting hand on my family it gives me goose bumps. Over those seven years I grew up into a teenager going through the rough seasons of high school, finding friends, making decisions and keeping God in my life. It was extremely difficult. Searching through the school crowds, looking for girls that shared my morals and passion of God was almost impossible. I had been disappointed many times by friends who told me they believed in a God, yet went to parties every weekend and did not make smart choices. Throughout my high school career I was tested many times to stay on the path my parents and directed me to follow, the path of Gods grace. I made some smart choices and I faltered. Overall, I battled with God and lost touch with Him. I forgot about the power of prayer. I fell out of the Sunday morning routine, spending my Sunday mornings at my riding stable instead of a church pew. Instead of developing my relationship with Christ I drifted away from Him and started swerving along His path of grace. I was in need of another reminder that God is a loving and sovereign. Graciously, God blessed me with another lesson during my first year at Grand Valley State University.

Grand Valley became a scary place when I was thrown into a new world with new people with my own decisions to make. I did not have many friends at school with me, and none who shared my love for God. I was alone. I pushed God aside, refusing to remember that I am not alone because God is always watching over me. Yet I continued to dwell on the idea that I was alone on a campus full of new people who I was too shy to reach out to. God had a plan up his sleeve that opened my eyes to another miraculous lesson that, once again, changed my view of His gracious unfailing love. Two doors down from my dorm room is a group of four boys who are whole-hearted Christians. During my first couple weeks at Grand Valley I was stunned to realize that God had planted four guys, practically next door to me, that had a strong faith for God. Making faith our foundation, we all became friends, bound by God and our interest in sharing the love of God. Surprisingly, making new godly friends was not the end of the plan God was presenting to me. It was only the beginning. One of the boys in the group has a girlfriend, Sarah, who is also a firm believer. I was introduced to Sarah at the end of the first semester at Grand Valley. Since I met her, Sarah has changed my life simply by her love and support. The encouragement and examples Sarah sets before me make me want to serve God drastically. Our friendship started with a simple get together dinner every Thursday night after class. In the beginning our conversations were

forced and somewhat awkward; both of us have shy personalities and we were unsure of what to engage in our discussions. As the ice began to crack, Sarah and I started opening up our ideas on faith. We had similar backgrounds; both of us having grown up in a Christian household, attending Baptist churches, and we shared the same morals. After an incredible conversation about God, Sarah invited to me join her in the Small Groups Christian Fellowship that she attended with 10 other freshman believers at Grand Valley. I was extremely blessed to have found a Christian friend who included me into her godly group where I could grow in my faith. Unknowingly, this was still not the end of Gods grace. On our normal Thursday night dinner, Sarah and I sat in a dimmed corner of the cafeteria chatting about the previous Small Group meeting which had been focused on a debate between a God of love or a God of wrath. The group of girls had been torn between which to believe. As we deeply concentrated on our own views on the subject, a random guy walked up to our table. What he said to Sarah and I that night is something that truly touched my heart. It was something along the lines of this: I dont mean to eavesdrop on your conversation, but if you are interested in searching for the truth behind a God of love or God of wrath, look in the Old Testament. I just wanted to let you know that hearing you both talk without using Gods name in vain, without

swearing and talking about your drunken weekends, was awesome. You never hear people express their faith anymore. It was great to hear you talk about God. Just wanted to say keep your faith. Then the guy disappeared. He walked away. We never caught his name. The only thing we said to him was thank you. Silence. Sarah and I were taken back, stunned at the actions of this guy who stopped us simply to tell us he was amazed by our faith. This moment I shared with Sarah is honestly indescribable. If you have not experienced the grace of God it becomes difficult to explain to immense feeling of being overwhelmed with the love of God. The lesson that God taught Sarah and I that day has influenced my life and continues to be a reminder to me. People are always watching you. People are always listening in and pick up on conversations that we speak every day. Through our conversation a guy overheard our faith, just like anyone else who could have sat next to Sarah and I and tuned in. To my understanding, Gods plan was to demonstrate to me especially, that simply being a faithful Christian in the world, not hiding your faith or being bashful about it, gets the word of God out to others, whether you know it or not. By not using Gods name in vain, not swearing, not partying or taking actions in sinful behavior sets an example for people who are watching and listening all around us. I learned that I can proclaim the word of God just by how I talk. You never know who is listening and what they can pick up from your conversation. God set an example to me that Thursday night

and the lesson that came out of that ghostly mans mouth will never be forgotten. I was introduced to Grand Valley a stranger with non-popular beliefs. Yet I came out with new friends who support me and helped guide my heart back onto the right path of Christ. I will forever be thankful for the boys down the hall who introduced me to my wonderfully powerful friend Sarah, who lead me to search my heart for God, which lead me to the most influential night of my life when a guy acknowledged faith. The power of prayer, the power of Gods love and unbinding grace is what supports me as I battle through the world. I have been reminded many times of how truly amazing God is and how He can work in my life.