so I only owe it to you all to tell you why I’m doing this.
There wasn’t an instantaneous change, but there was.
It started when I was younger. My grandmother was a wonderful woman of God, and it was with her that I went to church and through her I learned the ways of a good Christian. When I was seven, my beloved grandma passed away.
My family would go to church on-and-off but never again would I have a steady, stable religious routine. I would pray on occasion, the bible school prayers: “Now I lay me down to sleep…” and “God is great, God is good…”
Over last spring break (a week ago), my cousin came in from Virginia. Our relationship is hard to put into words. We are like sisters, we think and act so much alike. She is a few years older, but maturity-wise we have always been close to, if not exactly, the same level.
Here’s her story: when she was little, elementary-school age, her mother passed suddenly in a car accident. My cousin was raised religious (her mother’s side is Catholic, I believe), but like me, she lacked a steady relationship with God. Together we knew of Him, even believed in Him, but never truly understood or appreciated Jesus or God.
Anyway, back to spring break. My cousin comes in happier, healthier than I have ever seen her. There was an obvious change. When we started catching up, she told me she had started going to church, went on a church group trip to help children in other continents, started doing Bible studies and devotions daily. At first, it seemed that this exposure to religion had made the burden of her past vanish.
Then, I realized this wasn’t it at all.
It wasn’t the church or the children or the reading or the praying. It was God. The Lord Himself had transformed my cousin into a burden-free, inspiring woman.
I look up to her now, as I learn to look up to God.
