I haven’t been following God for long, it has yet to be a year, but I have certainly built a relationship with my father. Although this is true, I have only once attended a real church. I watch sermons online but have only once been in a physical church.
This week I asked one of my brothers if he would like to go to church with me, he has never been to church and is unsure in his belief of God, but he was actually excited to go and said he would pick me up and we would go together. I didn’t set an alarm, I just trusted God would wake me up on time, for I haven’t had use of an alarm for the past 8 months solely relying on my father. As always, my father delivered and woke me up that morning at 7:20am.
I called my brother, but he had let his tired body get the better of him and decided not to go. I too almost let my tired body get the best of me. I sat in my bed and thought things like “he’s my ride, I guess I can’t go.” or, “Todays the day of rest, I should rest.” I knew I had other means of getting there, but there was a part of me that wanted to justify me staying in my bed and sleeping rather than getting up.
So, I did what Jesus said to do in the book of Matthew and prayed so I would not fall into my sleep’s temptation. I had gained the strength to rise up out of my comfort and went to go take a shower. My mother was trying to kill a bug outside, so I helped with that first then returned to go take a shower. I put on my gospel music and stood in the shower with the water off.
The water was off because I was afraid. When you first turn on the water it comes out freezing cold, so I used to stand outside of the tub and wait for it to get warmer. Until one day I decided I wanted to grow in my courage and started standing inside the tub blasting myself with cold water and not moving out of the way.
I became able, but this morning, due to plumbing being done on the other shower, I stood in a new tub before a new faucet that was bound to be much colder than what I am used to. It was unfamiliar; it was uncomfortable. I started to think, I’ll just continue my challenge when the other shower is fixed, but then I realized, this wasn’t meant to be a break from my challenge, but a test from God to grow deeper in my courage.
I grabbed the faucet handle and stood strong before the shower head ready to embrace the pain of freezing water blasting my body. But I still was scared. Too scared to pull the handle. So much time went by before I finally decided that I would not grovel before a shower head, when I have a God that is much bigger.
In order to make it to the church on time I had to leave the house by at least 8:30. When I finally pulled the handle it was 8:16. That is plenty time to get ready and leave on time, but when I was in the shower listening to my gospel music I got so caught up in worshipping God that I forgot about the time and it was 8:30 and I was still in the shower.
I started to rush and hurried to my parent’s room and asked them to call me an Uber, they were willing, so I went back to getting ready. The app started to glitch and run slow, and my dad struggled trying to order the Uber. Struggled for so long that it was now 8:49.
The church service begins at 9:00 and is 30 minutes away. I started to feel defeated and after my dad finally got it to work, I told him to cancel the ride. I didn’t want to be subjected to people’s judgment for showing up to church late and came to the conclusion it was better I stayed at home. I sat back down on my bed and began to feel frustration.
After this long morning I was disappointed that after all the exertion I gave up in the end. The Uber had been called and would have showed in the next 3 minutes, but I gave up when the victory was right in my hands. I started to apologize to God saying,
“I’m sorry I’m so weak father, I’m sorry I give up in the most crucial moment.”
I was ready to fall into a depression and go back to sleep. But then I heard a knock on my door, my mother came in and said that my blamma was willing to take me. I rose up quicker than I ever have getting out of my comfortable bed with so much joy that God made a way for me even when I failed the first time.
I got into the car she drove me to church.
I got there at about 8:15, God had cut the time it took to get there by half and when I walked into the church, I heard the worship music and began to cry. To someone who doesn’t know God this story could be summed up as, I woke up, called my brother, helped my mother, took a shower, and went to church. But when you walk with God at all times you can see him working in the smallest areas of your life to create small miracles.
