This weekend I had the opportunity to catch up with one of my friends from high school. The two of us ended high school on a bad note, and I felt like it's been harder to talk to her ever since college started. You could say our friendship was broken due to misunderstanding and miscommunication. We hadn't talked to each other in months, and I decided to shoot her an IM with the hope of keeping our friendship intact. That day, as we started with our distant but polite "Hi"s and "Hello"s, the typical "What's up?" and "How's summer?" surprisingly led to us sharing experiences about how college had changed us. (God was working!)
My friend shared with me about how she'd been soul searching this year. An intimate conversation with one of her classmates opened her eyes and got her to start thinking about spirituality. To sum it up, her friend, a 26 year old undergraduate Korean female, had fallen into drug addiction, alcoholism and depression her first time through college in Canada. This person dropped out of college and her suffering was so great that she bordered on suicide. But she prayed and sought help - long story short, she turned her life around. Now strong in her faith, she travels to other countries doing humanitarian work and on mission trips. She grew closer to her parents, cleaned up, re-enrolled in college, and is now studying to become a dentist.
The entire time, I just couldn't help but stare as I tried to imagine the life this girl had gone through. This was a real person - not some word of mouth story, but someone who my friend knew directly. She had undergone a transformation because Jesus Christ was working in her life, and it changed the way she lived for good. The power of prayer and the Spirit's healing have never been so real to me. And even though I say it all the time, I was acting like it's never happened before - I thought: Wow. The Lord can change people's hearts.
I thank God for the testimony that my friend had heard because it got her to think more about faith and how it relates to her life. Right now she doesn't affiliate herself with any particular religion, but she told me that she believes there has to be a good God out there. My friend has always speculated that there was some higher being watching over her, but she didn't really feel that way until she talked to her classmate and heard her life story. Hearing about her friend's journey made her feel that things happen to people for a reason. Learning more about faith and spirituality has become an important thing to her, and I can only credit that desire to God.
After she told me of these amazing things, I got a chance to share my testimony with her - something that I haven't had the chance to tell my friends outside of Berkeley. And it gave me a chance to think about how the questions I sought answers to changed as I kept searching. I realize now that even before I had started to seek, God had already found me. But I wasn't able to see that He was right there in front of me, waiting to be found. I had sought to learn about the knowledge of creation, of the moral absolute, and of the truth - what He was. I only realized He was there all along after I saw how my own morals and strength weren't enough - when I had the desire to know Him personally as a Savior and when I wanted to know who He was to me.
I've been so humbled and encouraged since talking to my friend because her journey reminds me of my own. It's truly amazing because I'm actually seeing someone I know go through it, and I can completely relate to where she's at right now. I've never been able to see God's goodness as clearly as I do now. I'm so excited for her because seeking will eventually lead to transformation and revelation.
After talking to her, I couldn't help but feel that God intended this weekend to be different. The first two Saturdays of my internship I explored the east coast with some of my fellow interns. This time I didn't. And I don't regret it because otherwise we wouldn't have had that conversation. Every day I pray for my friend, that she'll have the perseverance and curiosity to continue seeking for the answers to the many questions she asks. I pray that while she currently seeks to know about God, that eventually she'll begin seeking to know God as a personal Savior. I'm confident Jesus will be behind one of the many doors she opens, waiting to meet her. And in time, given His grace and wisdom, I know she'll be able to see that He's there.
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