Friday night I had dinner with a group of wonderful ladies. Beautiful ladies who love the Lord. After our bellies were full, we headed north to fill our hearts with the word of God. You see Friday was the Women's Rally at James River Assembly. Pastor John's wife Debbie was able to secure a special speaker for this rally, and when I heard who it was...I could not pass it up!! Trust me, after a week preparing for our giant garage sale and all day with a garage FULL of people...a nap sounded really good. But missing CANDACE CAMERON BURE speak at our church, in person, was NOT an option!!
As we walked in, clips from Full House were playing on the screens in the sanctuary. I was immediately taken back to a time that my children cannot fathom. A time when we waited for Friday night at 7:00 so we could watch Full House. If you weren't home, you didn't see it. We found an entire row just for us and settled in. Little did I know, my world was about to be rocked.
She came out and was just adorable! She was rocking white pants (which made me regret not wearing my cute outfit that included a white dress for fear that I would violate the "white before Memorial Day" rule!) and was beautiful. She shared her testimony which you can read or listen to HERE. Her story really hit close to home. I could relate so well because she was a "good kid" too. Just like myself, a good kid for the most part. I did the same thing she did in college. "I'm a good person. I'm kind to people. I'm good to my parents. So I go to a few parties, use a few curse words and don't go to church regularly...it could be a lot worse. PLUS, I pray to God and He forgives me! So I'm good." Then she gave us an analogy that made SO much sense!
Picture a fluffy white sheep grazing in a pasture of green grass. He looks SO white and clean! Now picture a beautiful blanket of pure white snow all around that sheep. Against that backdrop, he now looks filthy dirty!!
I am SO very guilty of putting my sins up against the world. Compared to a lot of really bad sins, my sins don't look so bad. However, when I put my sins against the backdrop of a perfect son....not so great anymore!! I don't want this to sound like I think I am better than the next person just because I don't cheat on my husband or have a drug addiction. A sin is a sin and mine aren't any better than the next. The truth is, I have things that I know I need to work on. Things that deep down, I know I need to change but it's just easier to ask for forgiveness than to actually change them. I loved when she talked about the difference in diving into your sin and falling into it. God understands that we will mess up and He forgives us for those mess ups, but it's different when you dive right into sin KNOWING you are not doing the right thing.
I am looking forward to making some changes. One of my goals is to make quiet/prayer time my #1 goal. I have some soul searching to do and have been putting it off because I don't make time. To my family and friends, don't worry...I'm not in trouble or making some earth shattering, life changing decisions. Just "little" things that are going to make a huge difference in my family. I am so excited!
