June 19, 2015

Todays post is printed with the permission of my youngest daughter.

Over the years, on top of being Mom, I somehow acquired the role of proofreader. As such, I get the privilege of being the first to read the essays, book reports, and term papers penned by my kids. One of the assignments given this year during my youngest daughters Bible class was an essay on what she learned while studying the book of First Peter.

After reading the final draft of this particular paper, I asked my daughter if she would allow me to post her essay in the form of a guest blog post. Her response, “Well, Mom, it needs to be graded first.”

Plenty of time has elapsed since the April 1 due date. With the grade (and class) behind her, she has finally agreed to this post.

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Paul wrote the book of First Peter while he was in Babylon sometime between 63 and 65 AD. This book was written to Christians in the provinces of northern Asia Minor. Paul wrote to inspire hope and to encourage holiness during the time Christians were suffering from persecution.

While studying the book of First Peter I learned many lessons. One of the lessons I learned was that throughout the world there are many Christians being persecuted for what they believe. These people are starved and beaten, and left half clothed and barely alive. Even though these Christians are being persecuted they still live for God. Every breath they take is for God. Every word they speak is for God and about God. They keep preaching about God even when they are in prison.

In my personal life I would like to think that I would do anything for God. When it comes down to it though, I fear that I would be too scared to stand up for what I believe in, especially considering that I have a hard enough time starting a conversation about Christianity with unbelievers. However, the next time I see someone who I know is an unbeliever, I pray and hope that God will give me the strength to start a conversation with them about Christ.

The second lesson I learned by studying the book of First Peter was about relying on God and casting all my anxiety on him. As you know, my family and I are getting ready to move to New York. At this moment, my family and I have no clue where we are going to live, what school my sister and I are going to attend, and we don’t even know anyone from the area.

When I found out we were moving, I was scared that we would have to live in what I like to call a “whack shack.” But, God reminded me that it’s not really about what neighborhood we will be moving to, or what the house where we live looks like, or whom we know. What God is asking of us is far more important than any of the things that we treasure on earth. God is asking us to trust him and cast every little bit of anxiety on him. He’s asking us to give him full control of our life and to take a step into the unknown.

This is a really risky step because we don’t know what will happen when we move. But because of this adventure, I am learning to trust God and give him control of my life through every step of the way. I am learning to let go of my struggles, my fears, and those things that hold me back from doing what God wants from me.

To be honest, for the past few months I have felt like my life’s been one struggle after another. We moved to a new house fifteen months ago, I was out of school for a few weeks due to a medical issue, and my dad moved to New York in the middle of February for his new job. Now my mom is basically running around like a wild woman trying to get the house ready for sale while also trying to find a new house, and trying to pack up so we can be ready to move by mid June.

Even though this may sound so cliché, I can honestly say that I wouldn’t want my life to have happened any other way. Throughout these past few crazy months, my family has grown close together and we have also learned to trust God. Little by little we are learning to let go of the things we want to happen and let God take full control of our life.