believed what my mom had taught me, and I knew I loved
Jesus, and that was all that mattered.
I had no theology alignments. No Bible verses memorized. I
didn’t even know what the Ten Commandments were, but it
didn’t matter at that stage in my life. I came to Jesus that
morning just as I was, probably with milk spilled on my Sunday
dress and maybe even unmatched socks, but it didn’t matter. I
came anyway, just as I was. I didn’t wonder what others
thought. I don’t think I could have even cared about
something so trivial at that age. I came to Jesus as a response
to love. I loved Him, and I wanted Him to know. That was it,
plain and simple. I didn’t want anything in return. There was no
hidden agenda.
I think that is how God wants us to approach Him too. Actually
I know that is how He wants us to approach Him. No agendas.
Just love.
Getting to know God is very similar to getting to know a new
friend or a future spouse. It takes time. It takes commitment. It
takes investment. And sometimes the relationship deepens and
matures through hard times. For me personally college was a
very hard time in my life. Because of circumstances out of my
control, I felt at times as if I was going through the valley of the
shadow of death. Yet, because of those hard years, my
relationship with Dirk only got stronger. He went through
those tough times with me. He hurt for me when I was hurting.
He did not run away from our relationship when things became
hard. In fact his commitment to me actually grew stronger
during those dark times. And because of those I’m-tempted-to-
give-up days, we both emerged stronger.