The Official Writing Challenge
BACK TO
CHALLENGE
MAIN
INSTRUCTIONS
how it works
submission rules
guidelines for
choosing a level
ENTRIES
submit your entry
read current entries
read past entries
challenge winners
Our Daily Devotional HERE
Place it on your site or
receive it daily by email.


TRUST JESUS TODAY

  • Share
  • how it works
  • Submit
Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Purposefulness (Purpose in Life) (05/25/06)
It had been a great evening.
A bunch of friends have finally got together for a great meal at John and Maggie’s place.
We had one great thing in common, all of us around that dining table; we had all received Christ into our lives around the same time and had met not long after that event.
In some ways we felt like we had grown up together which was just so special and priceless.

This really was a new family to a few couples since they had migrated to this country and had left behind all their families and old friends. To them, these friends meant so much, almost more than family in some ways; since we all had Christ in common we understood each other in a deeper way than some non believing relative even.

There had been many good laughs that evening between the main course and the deserts. We felt safe to be ourselves in this environment, being completely accepted for who we were and what we thought.

Ben, being the clown in this party had not held back as he often felt he had to do with other Christians, just in case they got offended. Instead he had just gone with the flow and had all of us in stiches shortly after the meal had been served.

Oh, it had been so good to just laugh and enjoy each others company, watching those in the group that had gone through some tough times finally just burst out in laughter and get some shine back into their eyes.
Lisa had recently lost her mother and had not been her bubbly self as she entered John and Maggie’s house that night, but by the end of the evening she was full of life and sparked brighter than ever. She admitted that she had been finding it hard to get out of her grief but this night seemed to have given her back her zeal for life.

Even though the evening had been so enjoyable, a small cloud of sadness had been present.
All of us knew that this would be the last time we all would be able to get together like this and just have fun for a long time.
Soon Ben and his family was going to leave for the mission field and not long after that another couple was going to another part of the world as well, leaving all this behind.

It would not be the same without these precious people, but we all knew that this was the purpose they had been given and brave enough to say yes.

Both couples had started of by going on short term mission field trips, something the rest of us had try to resist in a strange way every time we had been encouraged to go.

What was it we really resisted? Was it the inconvenience, the money issue or what? We had felt that this mission thing wasn’t really what God had planned for our lives we argued. But neither had they thought that they were called to the mission field until they had taken that small step of faith they told us.

Something had changed in their hearts once they had been there in the middle of nowhere surrounded with everything foreign to them. They could not explain it to us, but perhaps there are no words for these kinds of experiences.
To them, things never seemed the same again and they knew that true happiness for them was to go and live amongst these people where they had seen God’s miraculous hand move in so many ways.
It was intriguing, but yet we resisted.

No longer would we see the mascara running down the faces of the women in the group after one of Ben’s stories. He and his family would instead be telling these stories to strangers in a new country far from here. Would they enjoy them as much as we had?

It was hard for us all to say goodbye. Of course we were to keep in touch by mail and email as often as possible, but we all knew it wouldn’t be the same.

Once again, we struggled with that question that never seemed to leave us alone for too long while we were in these peoples presence. Would we really dare to ask Him what His plan was for our lives? What if He actually told us? Would we really say ‘yes, Lord’ or…
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
This article has been read 974 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Sherril Wendling
06/02/06
An honest, penetrating peek into the "valley of indecision!" How often have I been caught there? Thanks for being an instrument to help us examine ourselves in His light. I liked the picture of "mascara running down the faces of the women" when they heard Ben's stories...Well done!

Valerie Routhieaux
06/03/06
Great question. Good writing. You touch the spot that we often overlook, and don't want to look at too closely. Who will answer the call? Keep writing.