Do not conform

Yesterday I had an amazing day at church and then later on with my friends. One of the many reasons why my day was amazing was because of a "little thing" that a woman at church did for me and my 3 other friends.

She had told us she needed to talk to us after church and sure enough, after the sermon was over she pulled us aside and said to us: "I see in you four godly women who are seeking God and I have seen many girls that look like they want to live a godly life and then they don't and it hurts me and I want to tell you that you never, EVER have to do what this world tells you. You NEVER have to conform...." At this point she was crying and overwhelmed with emotion which made me tear up. This meant so much to me, this woman is extremely special to me, she is my youth leader, my friend, my support when I need it, I mean she is overall amazing in my eyes, the fact that God chose HER to deliver these words to me.....wow, well played God :) I was able to control my tears during her talk but after she was done I couldn't help it, I broke down, I was so thankful and so happy.

She wanted to encourage us to never ever conform to this world and the whole time she was talking I was remembering Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." This verse is one of my favorite bible verses and I try to use it in my life as much as possible, as a non believer I would conform to this world all the time, I didn't care about God's will, it was always me the one "in control", I had to know what was going to be MY next action, MY next step. My life was planned: go to college, be a lawyer, don't have kids, maybe get married, make sure I succeed in life (a.k.a have money) and that's it. I never even thought "maybe God has something different in mind", no, God was there but I never included him in my life. And now it's different, now I REFUSE to conform to this world, to the idea that humans have control of what can happen next, to the idea that my life will go exactly the way I want it to go because I planned it. Heck, to the idea that I can plan my life!! No way.

Now I live my life the way Christ wants me to live it, I make plans but I always pray it's in God's will, when I talk to him I tell him "if it's not in your will, give me the strength to do what YOU want me to do, I want to follow you and you only". I will forever remember her words, remember the look I saw in her eyes, she was full of love and pain, the thought that in a few years these four girls won't be the godly women she sees today was causing her pain but the love she feels for us was overtaking that. Don't EVER conform to this world, God is so much greater than that, follow him and love him no matter what people say, because when you look up you want to make sure God looks down and smiles. We care about making people proud of us, we like it when people are proud of us, then make the God of EVERYTHING proud! Make the person who loves you the most proud and conform to Him and to His will ONLY!!!!!

I live in a family, in an environment, that begs me to conform, that temps me to stop being on fire for God, to stop being a "church girl" or a "Jesus freak" and trust me, it's really hard, but I'm NEVER going to conform, I know God is with me and I know he can help me be strong. I will never give in to their words, I ignored God's will for 16 years of my life, never again will I give that much of my life to this world. I want to make God happy and I also want to erase that pain from this woman's eyes and show her that these four girls are just getting started, that we will keep each other accountable and that we are willing to let God use us in whichever way he wants.

Thank you God for using such an amazing woman to impact my life the way she has. You have blessed me so much and her love for me is one of those huge blessings you've given me. I love you so much!!!


"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile" Romans 1:16