Who Led You to the Lord?
e: Thursday, April 22, 2021 Miranda Mayer
Title: Who Led You to the Lord?
Focus Verse: Deuteronomy 11: 18-21
I was raised in a wonderful and loving home; however, we did not live in the “Bible Belt”, and following Jesus wasn’t something that I heard much in my community. That all changed when 2 of my older sisters got involved in a ministry called Young Life. One of my sisters, Cierra, shared a room with me and was the closest in age to me. She began a relationship with Jesus at camp and came home to tell me all about it. She took me under her wing and began taking me with her to Young Life and church. I loved growing closer to Cierra through this and she was the one who “planted the seed” of my faith in me.
It took awhile of going to church and Young Life with my sister in order for me to even listen to what the Young Life leaders and Pastors were teaching. At first, all I thought about God was that He was a spiritual figure that determined if I went to Heaven or not…so I only acknowledged Him out of fear. Over time though, I began to get more interested. I began to love attending church and going to Young Life. I was so drawn to these places. Little did I know, it was actually God’s overwhelming presence that I was drawn to. My faith was not my own quite yet- but more of something that I admired in others.
When my sister moved away to college, I had to learn to navigate high school and my faith without her. I had a very hard time adjusting to her leaving, and it was because I relied on her in my faith. I was also struggling a lot with the typical high school things- sports injuries, boy drama, academic stress, self-worth issues, etc. I got pretty depressed that year and began to isolate myself. That year on Christmas, Cierra gave me my first journal. It was full of bible verses and she told me to write in the journal. It would be my way of talking to someone, when I didn’t want to open up to others. I did what she said, I wrote and wrote. At the time, I just treated it like a diary…but then I realized my journaling became praying. I had been speaking and praying to God through the journal every day. I was reading the verses on the pages and finding them in my own bible. Through that journal, Jesus became my friend.
Things started to click. I jumped in and started serving and attending a bible study. My walk with Jesus became my own. Over the years, many people and experiences have contributed to growing my faith and understanding in who I am in Christ and what it means to live a life after Jesus. I am so grateful for all of the people and experiences that have shaped who I am today…yet it all began with my older sister coming home from summer camp ready to share her faith with her little sister.
Further Reading: Deuteronomy 11, John 15:15, Matthew 14:23, Psalm 16:11, Matthew 1:1-17, Acts 28: 30-31
Prayer: You are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God, thank you for family. Thank you that you have used families throughout the Bible to carry out your plans. I pray we can reflect on the ways you have used our personal families as a part of our story. I thank you that your plans are so much greater than our own. I thank you for the individuals in our lives who boldly shared their faith with us, so we could know you.