I wrote this a few weeks ago and have toyed with if it should be posted or not. I still find it somewhat surreal that it happened but more than that I find it humbling.
Today I find myself in a very unique place. Someone who had extremely limited knowledge of my life pre where I am now was and is taking every opportunity to witness to a co-worker. In their effort they mentioned me as an example that it is possible to be in a working environment that has every appearance of being hostile and remain a healthy Christ follower. While it made my heart swell that this person thought of me, I had to check some of the finer points for complete accuracy. I told this person that in my very core I could not abandon my faith just because my working environment made it challenging. So now they say their co-worker wants to hear my story about how that can be.
Honestly, it's not something I have ever thought about; until today. Upon reflection my mind is teeming with examples of people throughout the Bible who did not abandon their faith. If anything their faith grew stronger. People like Moses and Aaron, Noah, Daniel, Nehemiah, Amos, Salmon, the remaining disciples after the deaths of Jesus and Judas, Paul, e.g. The list could go on. My point is that I realized that it has been when I'm in the most difficult places in life is where and when my faith stretches the most.
Recounting some of the experiences that lead to my realizing the growth, I would be lying if I said that I would enjoy doing them all again. And yet I think if I had the chance, I wouldn't change any of them. They may have cut me the deepest and taken the longest to heal, but the journey has been completely worth it. After all, life is all about the journeys we get to experience and people we get to meet on the way to our destination. Just so long as we keep our eyes on the destination and how we will bring others along with us.
