Scrap Of Faith

When we ran the comp for new DT members the theme was "The Biggest Lesson God has Taught You". Some of the applicants have graciously allowed us to share their lessons with you. We hope you enjoy their stories and creations as much as we did.

Today we are sharing the wonderful contribution from Meredith Harmer.

Hand written Journaling
When I was married in 19991 this is not how I imagined that my family would look in the year 2007 – but the fact that it does look like this has taught me many things.

Typed Journaling
Everybody has a story to tell – but sometimes we don’t take the time to hear it or to understand it. If you asked me in my early 20’s if I was judgemental I would have answered “NO” but I would have been wrong. When it comes to other people’s stories we often see what we see from the outside looking in, then join the dots together and make our own conclusions or judgements.
Very rarely does life go exactly according to plan and mine was no different. I expected that by the age of 30 I would have had my family of three children. Instead I was the mother of one – beautiful Bronte. I had two miscarriages in 1999 but then nothing year after year. People began to make their own judgements about me, suggesting that it was “time” I had another baby, or asked why I had chosen not to. Little did they know!! So one day when I was having a word to God about these people he gently reminded me that I was one of them.
He pointed out that I often made judgements about others without knowing their story. This lesson was powerful, significant and life changing – JUDGE NOT.

REFLECTION

Over the years I have learnt that it is very dangerous to point the finger at other people’s faults because God has this gentle but very direct way of pointing that finger right back at you. It was difficult for me to face the fact that I had been judging other people, but I quickly realised that God simply wanted to show me how subtle and easy it was to fall into this trap.
This lesson began simply with a reminder not to judge other people but has evolved into much more. God went on to show me that if I changed the way I responded to people’s questions about my family- rather than being hurt, to be open and honest about the situation (whatever it was) then they would understand a little bit about my story, a little bit more about me. In doing this I began to notice a trend, I had given other people the opportunity to share their story – it was about being real with each other.



This was a new season for me, I had become open to the Holy Spirit, become open to being taught, to being changed from the inside out. Don’t get me wrong - I am no angel BUT I am determined with the Spirits leading to be more and more like Jesus.
I love that Jesus loves us too much to leave us the way we are, and I am thankful for the promise in Phil 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

The journey so far has not been straight forward, but each bump in the road has taught me to trust God’s plans and not my own. He has this life of mine firmly in his hand and is unfolding it way better than if I called the shots.



Proverbs 3: 5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your path straight. (a note of thanks to Colin Buchannan for helping me remember where to find this treasure)