It was awesome.
Of course, I'm so NOT eloquent at speech, and didn't say what I should have said, so naturally I am going to put it here, where I can sort it out and say it the way I wish I had.
Life is hard. It will take you everywhere. At 16, you haven't seen too much, but believe me, in life, you will be faced with many, many choices.
Some will be easy to make, then some will come along and throw you for a loop.
Lacey encountered a loop when she was 23. She had to say YES to a baby, that everyone was telling her to say NO to. She chose the narrow path.
And what a blessing we would have missed if she had said "No."
Now I'm not saying we didn't encounter the worst pain we had ever dealt with, but God led us through it.
I wasn't living the life God had planned for me before Laynie. I hadn't written a word, I hadn't found my way to Him, the way He needed me to be with Him.
You know how bad your car gets before you finally take it to the carwash? You hardly see the color of the car for film of dirt? You put it off, think it's going to rain, (know if you DO break down and wash your car it will ultimately rain tomorrow, then it was ALL your fault??)...finally give in, wash your car...while you are in the Boomarang carwash and all those hoses are raining down soap and more soap, and those brushes keep pounding away at the roof of your car, pound, pound, pound.....then here comes the rinse cycle and all that dirt runs off your car.....and you come out of the other side......Clean.....
The first time I took Zach with me, he was terrified! "Lolly, is it over" "Is it over" "IS IT OVER", then we were done, I got him out of the car and let him see the results.... "Hey, that Good!"
That's where I was. I knew I needed to find Him, and let Him wash me new, but I kept resisting and resisting, and when Laynie came.....it was on..... Full Surrender, baby.
Without her, I don't know how long it would have taken, on the world path....to find my way in His pocket. He pulled us off the world path, into his Carwash (if you will) and made us new.
The world path is wide and easy. You can still be successful on the world path...you can still go to church and love God. But you won't listen to the Holy Spirit when It comes prompting. You won't hear Him for the world path is loud and fun and busy. It's also frustrating, nail-biting, control-ridden and full of high anxiety, for in this world.....YOU are in control.
You will MISS all the peace and joy that comes on that narrow, windy path. You won't experience the total peace that comes with absolute FAITH that God has your back. That's only found on the narrow path.
That narrow path is hard. Because you will have to say NO to doctors that "have your best interests at heart"....you will have to say NO to those fun, sexy movies all your friends want you to go with them to see..... you will have to say NO to the drinking parties, or be the lame "DD" that shows up, still has fun, but sees everyone home safe.......you will have to say NO to the boy your friends think is perfect for you, because after one date your realize he doesn't know or love Jesus the way you know and love Jesus, and want your children to be raised........You will say "Yes" to being a missionary, you will say "Yes" to fostering, you will say "Yes" to helping at the food bank, you will say "Yes" to reading your bible faithfully, and searching for God in those pages, and praying all the time, over everything you do, You will say "Yes" to living your life at a higher standard, because you deserve a life lived at a higher standard, because you are a child of a "KING"......the narrow path is tough all right. But it is worth it.
Then, someday it will find you in the floor with a bunch of teenagers, sharing Jesus, through a tiny baby's life story with them, and it doesn't get much better than that.
Except for sharing it with you, too.
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