The Prodigal Daughter is I.
If I was to describe the way I found God again, I would have to say that I was the Prodigal...er, Daughter. For those of you who don't know the parable of the Prodigal Son in the book of Luke, here is a cute flash animation of the story.
This prodigal son is me. I once was lost. I was a born again christian at age 11, as I grew older I became lost in life itself, lost in the daily grind of school, friends, and social activitys, so lost infact I almost felt I didn't need God at all. No, I thought, I was doing fine by myself. I never liked to drink, smoke or take drugs, and I was never promiscuous. "No." I kept thinking "I am doing fine by myself. I don't need God." I had control of my life, and I didn't need him anymore. But something kept me holding on. God was always at the back of my mind, and whenever I did something I knew He wouldn't approve of I would just push Him to the back of my mind and do it anyways. I would continue to pray to Him, ask Him to forgive me then do it all again the next day. It was a vicious cycle. I just didn't - and wouldn't learn. And in a blink of an eye I had been lost for 6 years.
In those 6 years God continued to do some great things for me, even though I continued to be impartial with Him. I thought I could live in a grey area with God. I recently read a tesimonial from someone, who said that 'with God its black or white' youre either with Him or youre not. Its only hit me now, how true that is. If you are going to follow Him you should follow Him 100%, none of this picking and chosing what suited me and what didn't, which was how I've been living my life for a long time.
Unfortunately I can't say to you that when I realized my wrongs I broke down and cried when I asked God to forgive me or that people came together laid hands and prayed for me. No, God tends to like to work subtley with me for some reason. This time God worked in a weird and wonderful way, He brought me a stranger who used the fact that we had the same last name to contact me. It was this stranger God used to really opened up my eyes about what its really about to be a christian. This stranger who I now consider a friend, showed me by his actions what it meant to really love God. I can't quite place my finger on the exact turning point, but I do know it was a gradual thing. A gradual thing where I started questioning myself and questioning my new friend. He made me see why I chose God in the first place, and seeing his love for God made me realize that thats the sort of relationship I wanted with God as well. And from that moment of realization, it just wasn't good enough for me to just live in grey areas with God, I wanted to live in black in white again. At that moment God found me again.
God has continued to bless me in many ways, I am so thankful. Just like the father from the parable, Hes really opened His arms to me and I have come into my own. Everyday is still a stuggle for me, as I continue to be a babe in Christ, to break away from the old things of my life but I know I can do anything through Him. Gone are the days of doing right by me, nowadays I sought to do right by Him.
Yes, the prodigal daughter has truely returned home.
"For this, my son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found" - Luke 15:24.
This prodigal son is me. I once was lost. I was a born again christian at age 11, as I grew older I became lost in life itself, lost in the daily grind of school, friends, and social activitys, so lost infact I almost felt I didn't need God at all. No, I thought, I was doing fine by myself. I never liked to drink, smoke or take drugs, and I was never promiscuous. "No." I kept thinking "I am doing fine by myself. I don't need God." I had control of my life, and I didn't need him anymore. But something kept me holding on. God was always at the back of my mind, and whenever I did something I knew He wouldn't approve of I would just push Him to the back of my mind and do it anyways. I would continue to pray to Him, ask Him to forgive me then do it all again the next day. It was a vicious cycle. I just didn't - and wouldn't learn. And in a blink of an eye I had been lost for 6 years.
In those 6 years God continued to do some great things for me, even though I continued to be impartial with Him. I thought I could live in a grey area with God. I recently read a tesimonial from someone, who said that 'with God its black or white' youre either with Him or youre not. Its only hit me now, how true that is. If you are going to follow Him you should follow Him 100%, none of this picking and chosing what suited me and what didn't, which was how I've been living my life for a long time.
Unfortunately I can't say to you that when I realized my wrongs I broke down and cried when I asked God to forgive me or that people came together laid hands and prayed for me. No, God tends to like to work subtley with me for some reason. This time God worked in a weird and wonderful way, He brought me a stranger who used the fact that we had the same last name to contact me. It was this stranger God used to really opened up my eyes about what its really about to be a christian. This stranger who I now consider a friend, showed me by his actions what it meant to really love God. I can't quite place my finger on the exact turning point, but I do know it was a gradual thing. A gradual thing where I started questioning myself and questioning my new friend. He made me see why I chose God in the first place, and seeing his love for God made me realize that thats the sort of relationship I wanted with God as well. And from that moment of realization, it just wasn't good enough for me to just live in grey areas with God, I wanted to live in black in white again. At that moment God found me again.
God has continued to bless me in many ways, I am so thankful. Just like the father from the parable, Hes really opened His arms to me and I have come into my own. Everyday is still a stuggle for me, as I continue to be a babe in Christ, to break away from the old things of my life but I know I can do anything through Him. Gone are the days of doing right by me, nowadays I sought to do right by Him.
Yes, the prodigal daughter has truely returned home.
"For this, my son, was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found" - Luke 15:24.
