Stories are powerful! Stories provide inspirational fuel for our souls. They remind us that “yes, it really is possible!” Stories fire up our faith and make the invisible work of God visible!
This space is provide as a place for Riverwooders to gather to tell and hear God stories. Stories of what God is doing in our lives.
So…what has God been doing in your life that you can share with the rest of us? Many of you have been emailing me with your stories of how God has helped you, directed you, met you, comforted you and literally transformed you. Those stories have personally encouraged me and fueled my soul…but they need to get out of my ‘Inbox’ and into the lives of a bunch of other people. This is the place to share your story of what God is up to these days!
- Pastor Todd
My God story is just a small tidbit from my day where I really saw God at work in me. I’m a university student, and one of my classes includes a 3 hour lab once a week. It’s at the end of the day, when I’m tired and would much rather be curled up on the couch at home with a cup of tea. To make matters worse, my lab partner drives me CRAZY. Our personalities clash and we don’t agree on, well, pretty much anything. We spent the first few labs fighting each other on basically every calculation made or measurement taken. On those days, I would leave school extremely frustrated and would be in a bad mood for the rest of the evening. After a few weeks of this, I decided I couldn’t take an entire semester of it and started asking others for advice on the situation. The two suggestions I got were “get a new lab partner” and “pray about it”. When I found out that switching lab partners wasn’t an option, I finally went to God about it. Before every lab session, I asked for patience and for help getting along with my lab partner. And it worked! Things steadily continue to get better…the labs go by faster, we both leave less frustrated than before, and today, we actually joked around and shared a few laughs! Although we still disagree on a lot of things, I am amazed at how far we are from where we started, and so thankful for it. Prayer works! I should try that sooner next time :)
Many years ago, I met a woman at work who took the time, care and effort to get to know me. I was not a Christian but when I found out that she was, I decided not to hold it against her. I was a scientist. I didn’t believe in anything I couldn’t see, or scientifically prove. When she asked me to a Christmas contata (dinner theater) at her church, I figured, why not, at least it wasn’t a church service. It was great! She asked me again the following year and I said ‘yes’.
After my first daughter was born, I realized that I did not have the tools to teach her what I wanted to know, so I asked my friend if I could start coming to church and bring my daughter. Of course, she said ‘yes’.
My daughter was born with a heart defect. During one of her appointments, her cardiologist indicated that she may need open heart surgery. I was devastated by the news. He needed to do more tests to see. After the tests, I was sitting in the room, waiting for the cardiologist to come and give me the final word, I cried out to God. I didn’t know how to pray at that point, so all I could say was “Please God, please God, please God.” I felt arms go around me and instantly, I was at peace. I knew everything was going to be all right. When the cardiologist came with the news that my daughter wouldn’t need surgery, I was not surprised. I figured, if God would do this for me before I committed my life to Him, what did He have in store if I DID commit my life to Him. I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior the following Sunday at church, Oct 17, 1994.
All because a caring friend asked me to go to church.
This week I was driving out of town and the visibility was so poor. I couldn’t see a thing around me, except white fog. I felt completely lost and didn’t know if I’d end up where I wanted to go. I realized this was God’s way of showing me that if I didn’t come clean about an error I’d made recently at work, it was like being lost on a path, leading to nowhere. I was convicted through this that I needed to do the right thing…admit my error and make it right. Later, on my drive home the highway was so clear and I knew exactly where I was headed…on the straight path that only God can reveal.
I was brought to the realization that even if I would loose my job over my mistake, it would be well worth it for the reward of God’s favor in my honesty and integrity.
Proverbs 10:9 “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely but he who make his way crocked will be found out”
-Adrienne
My life is just one God story after another. Of course, it’s only looking in hindsight that I can see that now, how one thing led to another and led to another. And all in perfect timing….mind you not my timing, God’s timing, which I only later understood why it was perfect. All my God stories are like puzzle pieces, they may have seemed random, unconnected, and not part of the same picture at all, but God orchestrates each piece omnipotently.
The story of finding freedom from co-dependence and an abusive relationship, which resulted in then finding my awesome husband, which resulted in my husband finding God. The story of job after job that didn’t work out for either of us, including at the company we met at, until my husband’s career misfortune led me to a great job, and a great co-worker/friend that led us to Riverwood. The story of how we ‘needed’ to move due to trying to have a family and the declining housing market and ended up looking for a house near Riverwood in a neighbourhood we hadn’t really considered, with an offer we shouldn’t have been able to make, and which was accepted. The story of how we haven’t been able to have children after all, which can seem like a story of conception dysfunction, but it led to us both taking the Engaging course and finding deep fulfillment in our ministry passions. The story of jumping into what I thought was a relationship ministry and how it transformed into a recovery ministry, which if I had encountered a ’12 step program’ even just a few months earlier would have written it off as ‘not for me’, but instead discovered I’ve had my own incredible recovery God has led me through. The story of all the people who share my struggle with anxiety that he’s brought into my life over the last few years, random friendships that have become a circle of support, and the victories (big and small) we’ve found together through Celebrate Recovery. The story of my husband’s family, non-Christians whom we’ve been trying to find ways to help God reach into their lives, lives riddled with divorce, grief, and many other hurts, and how it’s only now clear I have a connection to recovery AND them for a reason. The story of how my great (full-time) job, which has become even greater, agreeing to some flexibility that has allowed me to shift my schedule so that I can dedicate about 7-8 hours per week to being a leader at Celebrate Recovery.
You may notice a theme in the God stories I chose to share, and that’s because I have recently been able to see how God has conducted ‘behind the scenes’ just about every single area of my life so that I was in perfect placement to be part of Celebrate Recovery. When I dove into the ministry before it became ‘recovery’ I was looking for a place to serve for a couple hours per week, to give me a sense of purpose, giving back, and to be obedient. Like I said, I had no ‘conscious’ connection with recovery, and adding the equivalent of a part time job to my schedule, which can be a little busy/stressful/overwhelming (things that are not good for someone prone to anxiety), wasn’t in my plans. I wondered at first what I was even doing at Celebrate Recovery. But at the end of every week, especially the stressful ones, it’s not TGIF because I get to go home and veg, it’s TGIF because I get to go serve a great group of people all evening. I am so blessed just by being there! I have met people who have faced such tragedy, who are in crisis, so worn down by pain, ready to give up on the world in one way or another, people who would never ordinarily step inside a Church and our night at Celebrate Recovery is a last ditch effort exception. I have seen these same people return Friday after Friday, connect with the ‘me too’ community we have, find a smile they had lost, and some start coming to Riverwood even on Sunday! I am so blessed to be part of a Church that can foster this kind of life transformation, but even more blessed to be a child of God who loves us and heals us. He loves me and values my life so much that he has deliberately and intimately woven together the pieces of my life so beautifully, I cannot express or contain the gratitude and joy he gives me.