Godstops

I am coming to the end of a 10 week Bible Study by Beth Moore called Believing God. Along the way, Beth has encouraged participants to look for "Godstops" each day. A Godstop is any means by which God goes out of His way to reveal Himself to you. When God makes Himself observable, we need to stop to take notice and savor the moment. When we learn to recognize and appreciate His interventions, we are more likely to receive them. Over the past 2 weeks, as a part of this study, I have been creating a timeline of my life and marking specific ways in which God has intervened in my life. This has been a pretty interesting activity because once the timeline starts to take form, its easy to see God's involvement. Today, during my quiet time, I worked on mapping out years 13-18 of my life. 

When I was 13, I was headed down a pretty dark and dreary path. I had observed a very abusive relationship between my parents for many of my childhood years and my parents had divorced when I was 9 years old.  I felt torn between my parents as I spent half of my time here and half of my time there. My dad had moved away and I didn't have any contact with him. I felt lost and abandoned. I was searching for anything to help me feel loved and worthwhile. At age 13 I was making very poor choices. I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and focused on all the wrong things. If I had kept going down this path, my life would look nothing like it does now. 

As I worked on my timeline today, I mapped the biggest Godstop of my life so far. At age 13, I met Bryan. We lived on the same street our entire lives but had never even spoken to one another. I'm not even sure I had even seen him before. A sweet girl named Lydia, who I had also never met, introduced me to Bryan on a hot summer day. We walked up his driveway and as soon as I saw that handsome face with that long blond hair, I knew I would marry that boy. That moment was a Godstop. From that day on, my life would be different. 

From then on, Bryan and I spent as much time together as our parents would allow. Within a few weeks I started going to church with Bryan and I had become a regular attender of Wednesday night youth group. In September of 1996, only 3 months after I met Bryan, I went with the youth group to a Billy Graham Crusade. It was at this crusade that I gave my life to Christ, with Bryan right beside me as I prayed. Although I have not lived a life worthy of the mercy and grace God has bestowed upon me, the choice to give my life to Christ was the best decision I've ever made.

Today I am thankful for Godstops. Those moments when it is apparent that God has been at work. God knows exactly what will get our attention, what will cause us to listen, and how to redirect our path.There are many of those moments on my timeline and I pray there will be many more.


  God changed the course of my life when He allowed me to meet Bryan. I often wonder if Bryan realizes how God used him in my life and how thankful I am for that. We have not lead perfect lives or had a perfect relationship but I cannot even imagine where I would be today if God had not stopped me in my tracks. Getting to marry that same blond haired boy was just icing on the cake. I love the ways of God. I am overwhelmed by His goodness and how He constantly pursues us. I praise His name for the life He has given me, the life He has changed! 

Oh, by the way, as I wrote the words "I met Bryan" on my timeline, I also wrote the date beside it. While writing the date...June 28, 1996...I realized that today is the 16th anniversary of the biggest Godstop of my life. The anniversary of meeting Bryan had not even crossed my mind, at all. As I noticed that God had pointed out that Godstop on the anniversary of it, I realized that this too was a Godstop. He caused me to pause and reflect on the amazing things He has done for me, in my life, even before I paid any attention to Him. He has been there all along. He is with me all the way!