“The Lord opened her heart to respond…”
The above words are from Lydia’s Story found in Acts 16:14, but these words can also describe the stories of the women highlighted this week at Given the Time…modern-day women willing to hear new things from God and believe! Let’s hear from our third modern day woman…
I found early on in my relationship with God that listening to God sometimes means you may not like what He has to say but that He always has your best in mind.
I came from a dysfunctional home that was filled with emotional abuse and threats of physical abuse. My mom divorced when I was 2 and married a man who would later adopt me and become my Dad. Through circumstances he became alcoholic and abusive. I went through most of my childhood trying to escape his wrath and by the time I graduated high school I moved as far away from him as I could go.
After moving I met the Lord and gave my life to Him. God started to transform my life and to work on major areas of my heart. At this point I still had no relationship with my Dad. If he answered the phone when I called home I would just hang up and call back later. But God started to convict me and challenge me to respond in love. I felt like He was asking me to forgive my Dad. I said, “Okay, I’ll forgive him.” Then I felt God say, “Now love him.” I thought, “No way. I hate him, there is no way I can love him.” Then I felt God say, “You don’t have to love him with your love. Love him with my love.”
I was dumbfounded. I didn’t know how to respond. But how could I say no? God had loved me. Surely there was love for my dad as well. I asked God to break my heart for my dad. I asked God to show me how He saw my dad. God gave me a vision of a wrecking ball smashing into a wall, breaking it down. He said to me, “Every time you love him with my love you break down the walls that he has built around his heart.”
In obedience I started to love my dad in action and word. I looked for ways to bless him and would tell him that I loved him. This knocked him back and took him by surprise. He didn’t know how to respond at first. Then slowly, bit by bit, God started softening my dad’s heart. The wall around his heart indeed started to chip away. Because God broke my heart for my dad I started to have compassion for him and pray for him and truly forgive him.
It has been about 15 years since this process started. My dad is a completely different man. He still has his problems and has not yet come to know the Lord in a personal way but he has asked questions and is becoming more open. I continue to pray for that and have faith that God will continue this work in him. I am encouraged that God speaks to us even about the hard things in our lives. He wants us to grow and change and become more like Him.
“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” 1 John 4: 19-21
Given the Time 