Singles' Night

On Friday night, after getting back from Girls' Camp, our team headed to FBC Palmer for an Associational Singles' Night. There were about 20 people from all over the Hatcher Pass Baptist Association. It was a great night for everyone there. In addition to having lots of fun with crazy games like Empire and Mafia, we were blessed by an incredible testimony and worship time.

The testimony that we heard is what I would really like to share with you. An 18 year-old girl named Kathy shared the struggle she has dealt with since she was 15. When she was a freshman, she was extremely active. Her favorite activity was twirling, and she was great at it. She had even been to other countries to perform! Kathy thought that maybe God had plans for her to using twirling in other countries as part of her own personal ministry. However, God has other plans in store for her. At the beginning of her sophomore year, she felt the need to pray for patience and to be able to completely rely on God. Obediently, she prayed. Within just a few weeks, her health crashed. She was constantly in pain and became crippled. At her lowest point, she couldn't even get out of bed. She had one question: Why God?

As bad as the situation seemed, she did become a better person for it. She became closer to God. Since she wasn't in school, she didn't have much time with her friends. Therefore, God became the person she got to "hang out" with on a regular basis. It was during this time that she became closer and closer to God. She began to realize that He was using this storm to shape her into a beautiful diamond. It was and still is very difficult situation, but she can see God working. In fact, she has been getting better over the past few months. She can now get up and move around without a cane.

Her latest struggle with her illness actually came up in the past week. There was a 15 year old girl that has been dealing with some terrible health issues. At a leadership conference, a group of her friends prayed for her and God healed her! This is an amazing miracle, but it was a difficult miracle for Kathy to be grateful for. Why hasn't God chosen to heal her? Her friends have prayed for her for three years. God is healing her, but it is happening at a slower pace than what Kathy, her friends, and her family would like. However, as Kathy pointed out, it is important for us to remember that God works in His time. His timing and plans are much better than our own. Sometimes we just don't understand what He's doing or why.

Even though Kathy is really struggling with God's plan for her life and His purpose for her illness, she has shown an incredible amount of faith and strength. Just the fact that she was willing to get up and share her story during this hard time in her life was an encouragement to me. It really put my problems into perspective. If someone like Kathy can work through a storm like that and still hold strongly to her faith, surely I can walk through a small shower. The Lord still has a lot to teach me, and my faith has a lot of growing to do. It all just has to happen "step by step."