About a month ago I had a conversation with my friend Sam about faith. Sam and I became friends while he was interning here at The Happiest Place on Earth. During his time here in Orlando we talked a lot about our purposes in life. Sam was trying to figure out what his next step was after his internship was over and I, of course, am sure I'm on a constant journey of seeking the Lord's Will for me. We talked a lot about God's call to serve and how we can do that in both secular roles and in ministry positions.
Anyway, back to my conversation I had with Sam about a month ago. I talked to him and he revealed a lot of great things that God has been doing in his life. But something he said has stuck with me over the past few weeks. Sam spoke of how for so long in his life he had asked God to drive out the "demons" in his life. And constantly, God was faithful and did this, delivering him from tough situations and the things that laid heavy on his heart. But then Sam told me that these things--demons--would always creep back into his life. He said he finally realized that while he was asking God to remove these things from his life, God was delivering and doing that, but then he (Sam) wasn't filling those now emptied spots in his life with anything of substance and truth so it just left room for those demons to enter right back in. He told me that when he finally started to replace those demons with words of Truth and actions of faith, he was able to walk further and more permanently away from the demons. (This, of course, is my paraphrased version of our conversation. Sam would certainly do a much better job telling you about his experiences.)
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I'm constantly asking God to deliver me from hard situations and to remove the "demons" that are haunting me. And he does, because our Lord is good and loving and faithful. But I also have to do my part. I need to be living, breathing, reading, and consuming the Word constantly. Those spaces in my life that were once filled with corruption and sin and shame now need to be filled with Love. I can't continually expect God to keep pulling me out of the pits of despair that I get myself into (although, I have no doubt that He loves me so much that He would continually pull me out and save me) without making some attempt to follow Him, honor Him, grow in his Grace and Truth and Mercy.
I'm learning slowly that it's more than just turning away from sin...it's about turning towards Grace and living fully in it.
I'm thankful for friends that share their lives with me and without even knowing it, speak into my life. Thanks Sam for sharing your life with me.
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