In My Opinion
By L.N.P.

Taking Stock

So what changed? Well, it's not exactly a secret that my husband and I became Christians slightly more that a year ago. The impact of THAT decision for us and for our lives is immeasurable, and as you might expect (or dread, as the case may be) I'll return to that subject later on.

A huge change in our lives was the birth of our new grandson, Sean Oliver, who is a happy, healthy, handsome and absolutely brilliant 19-pound 5-month old baby. Because we realize that we might just be the least bit biased, I include his picture so you can judge for yourselves (of course, you'll have to trust me on the brilliant part!)

The other big change is that we moved. In March we learned that our landlord was selling our house; the house we'd lived in for just two years. At first we were panicked; how would we ever find another house with a huge office like we needed to run our business from home. How would we manage to raise the approximately $6,000 that it took to rent a new place, with 1st, last and security to consider. How could we fit house hunting into our already over-burdened schedule? But one of the countless things we've learned since becoming Christians is: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God….." So, within minutes we were doing just that, feeling calm and extremely hopeful.

That's when God's blessings came pouring down on us in veritable torrents; it was hard to keep ourselves dry! Within days, several projects we'd spent months hoping would happen all came through at the same time. Suddenly, we were bombarded with work, and along with it, the money we needed to move. I found our new home within a week. Several houses we looked at seemed great, but each had something that made us feel not quite right; either the landlord was too rigid, or the rent just a little too high, or the office space not adequate for our needs. When we found what became our new home, we knew that God had led us away from the other houses and directed us to the perfect home for us. It's absolutely ideal in every way and we've felt at peace and at home since we moved in.

And the move itself was awesome. In fact, nothing like it has ever happened to us before. It began with my dear friend and my daughter helping us pack, and getting to know each other a little better in the process. Then, early on the morning of moving day, my friend's husband came to pick up the truck with Jim, and brought around 30 Egg MacMuffins with him to feed the movers. Then the movers arrived-more friends from our church who simply volunteered to help us move. They were amazing; the house was emptied twice as fast as it would have been with professional movers. One woman was vacuuming; how she even found the vacuum cleaner bags was a mystery, but to see her happily cleaning the house was touching beyond words. We had been prepared to order pizzas for everyone, but even that proved unnecessary. Before we could pick up the phone, the wife of one of our "movers" descended like an angel with a dozen pizzas, homemade salad, drinks-the whole works. We were overwhelmed. Before eating, we all took a few moments to pray together, and as my daughter's boyfriend said, "You could feel the love in the room." And I know it's hard to believe, but that night, as we sat exhausted and surrounded by boxes, we were visited by our best friends once more, this time to bring us dinner. Then, to top it all off, my daughter spent the next day helping me empty boxes and move furniture, after which she and her boyfriend also brought us dinner. To say this house got off to a blessed start would indeed be an understatement.

Since I'm supposed to be taking stock, I must admit that when we look at our lives today vs. a couple of years ago, we can only marvel at what slugs we were! Not that we didn't work just as hard, but the rest of our lives had settled into a pretty dull routine. Occasionally we'd go to dinner or hang out at a bar, after which I'd usually go home sick, wishing I'd remembered how awful abusing alcohol or drugs made me feel. Occasionally we'd visit with friends or family. But the majority of the time, I'm ashamed to say, we felt comfortable in our own little cocoon, eating, reading, staring at the TV, going to sleep.

What a difference a year makes! Our calendar seems to fill up quickly every month, and our at home time has taken on a completely different, never dull, routine. First of all, we've gained so many wonderful new friends, people who genuinely and sincerely care about us, that it's all but impossible to spend as much time as we'd like with each of them. They might not seem like an exciting bunch; not much like our old gang; they don't get "blasted" (although they often enjoy a drink before dinner), they never use profanity, they tend to thank God for his blessings before dining, even in a restaurant, and, perhaps MOST unusual; they are all happily married! Nonetheless, our conversations turn out to be so stimulating, so enjoyable, that we linger over dessert as long as possible. When we part, we go with hearts filled with love, and we're never hung over! Parties with our new friends are also wonderful-again, nothing wild or kinky happens, nothing to be embarrassed about the next morning, but just warm, caring fellowship where every face is friendly, and every greeting sincere.

Our home time is actually a misnomer, because a lot of it isn't really home time anymore. Wednesday nights we go to a Bible class together; imagine eagerly looking forward to Bible class! Thursday nights, my husband has been taking an 8-month course with eleven other men called Top Gun. I've watched him grow in leadership, knowledge and spirituality, and enjoyed knowing that he was finally having the chance to bond with other guys; when he gets home he's always beaming. Sundays, of course, we work in the Welcome Ministry and attend church services-another day we await eagerly that never disappoints. Monday nights we visit a Homeless Shelter; what a blessing THAT is. You go believing that you're helping those less fortunate; you leave knowing that you're the one who's been helped; it turns out that serving others is an incredible privilege. Christians have an expression they use in lots of situations: 'what would Jesus do?' When you leave the shelter, you have your answer.

And the rest of the time, we often find ourselves occupied with activities that would not have fit real well into our old lifestyle. Like studying Scripture. Praying. Engaging in intense conversations about morality, choices, the meaning of a particular Biblical verse, what other areas of service we should involve ourselves in, what amazing coincidence just happened in our lives. I say "amazing coincidence" because I'm very well aware that my non-believer friends and family consider them to be just that. But do you know what's really amazing? It's how MANY amazing coincidences seem to happen to us since we developed a relationship with God-since we began praying and talking to Him daily. So, call them what you will; we call them answered prayers." And the miracle is that as long as we remain faithful, because God is always faithful, He answers our prayers.

It's been a life-changing year for our marriage, too. That might be the hardest change to detect from the outside, because we've always had a terrific, loving relationship; we've been in love since the day we met. But from the inside, God has been doing some big time work in our lives, and the result has been profound; it's as though our marriage has gone from something great to something sacred. What we share now is all that we shared before, plus something that transcends it all and binds us for eternity.

Now some of you may assume that since we've experienced so many changes that we've abandoned our old friends, but that's not true. It was challenging at first, reconciling our new worldview with the views of some of our family and friends. But time is the great reconciler, and true friends and loved ones remain so despite differences in lifestyle. Besides (please don't tell any of them) but my hope is that at some point they'll not only notice how much we've changed, how filled with joy and peace we've become, but they'll want to know more about how it happened. And we'll be there to tell them.

I know I promised to return to the subject of the impact that becoming Christians has had in our lives. But, unfortunately, I've run out of space. Guess I'll have to save that column for another time.

Send me your opinions at LParis@netlistings.com