A Hug

A hug…seems like such simple a word...such a simple act, yet can make a huge difference for someone.

After experiencing a rough week, I still had to work this past Saturday morning and later in the afternoon.  I was already going to Aurora for work in the afternoon, so I decided to visit a church I wanted to try out in Aurora that night instead of Sunday morning.  Seemed a practical way to save gas money…yet God had reasons why He led me to this decision.

As I walked into the Worship Center at the church, I was welcomed by an older lady who asked me if I could use a hug.  Perhaps I had this look on my face that said, “I’ve had a rough week, today I had to navigate my way here since the interstate was closed with an accident, and I’m exhausted from having worked all day.”  I call it my  “I’m overwhelmed with all the transition/adjustments look” which in some ways I don’t like and wish I could hide it, but in other ways I’ve found it to be a great asset as people seem more willing to help you.  I don’t know why this lady asked, but she did!  I was surprised and told her sure!  After we hugged, I let her know this was the first time I’d been to this church.  Her face brightened as she told me she was even more glad I was there, and proceeded to tell me she loved her church and why. 

As I sat waiting for the worship service to begin, I thought about how that hug encouraged me.   Here I am in the midst of strangers, a strange place…okay everything strange right now, and then someone I don’t even know would want to give me a hug.  In the moment of the hug, it seemed that all the stress of the week just disappeared. I felt like I was in a safe place, somewhere I could just come and be with God and everything else could just disappear (for now).

I thought back to memories of the morning, when I was working with the youth in the Bronco Room.  Several kids came up to me and gave me a hug.  In my three weeks of working, I’ve had a hug here or there from a kid, but this particular morning, it seemed to be “the thing to do.”  I didn’t think much of it then, other than to give these kids a hug.  All of a sudden that evening, I saw things in a different light.  The kids I work with also live in a strange place (many of them have moved many times), many of them go to a different school (if they go to their old school, they have to take different transportation to get there)..they too are experiencing hard times.  Perhaps a hug for them, is just a stable thing that says “someone cares” and is a chance for a little bit for life to just say “It will be okay” or “This is a safe place.”

What would it take for me to look at a complete stranger and ask “Do you need a hug?”  How could one simple hug make a difference in somebody’s life, giving them a perhaps much needed dose of encouragement?

A hug….a simple way of extending God’s love to those around us.  

Will you be willing to extend God's love today...all by the simple act of a hug?

My thoughts to Welcome You!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."  Psalm 139:13 NIV

When my parents decided to name me Sarah, they were starting a legacy.  My legacy really started way before that, as God first thought about me and was creating me before my parents even knew me, much less were thinking of my name.  My parents decided to name me, Sarah.  Sarah means "Princess."   Well, HOW APPROPRIATE!  My parents prayer and most important desire was for me to have a personal relationship with the Lord, to know God - THE MIGHTY KING.  They wanted me to be a child of The King!  While I accepted Christ as my personal savior when I was 5 years old, my faith really didn't become my own until between 2nd semester of my senior year of high school and on into my freshman year of college.  My faith really took off my sophomore year of college, and has grown since.  I am A DAUGHTER OF THE KING!!!


This past February (2010), I sat in a group of ladies and my perceptions of comments these ladies were saying, was hearing that unless one is married they are not complete in Christ.  I disagreed, I still do.  I left this conversation questioning a lot of things, discouraged, beat up (or really down)...just not in a good spot.  Now satan, wanting to take this conversation and try to mess me up, kept hitting me with thoughts, questions, and still not in a good spot.  However, I KNEW the truth and battled back with TRUTH of how this concept of not being complete in Christ because I'm not married was not Biblical and how my identity is in Christ.  The battle went on in my mind.  Being much stronger, the Lord also blessed me with great friends (AB, LM, CB, DO) and my mom and sister who spoke truth and walked this path of struggle with me.  In the end, God's truth remains strong and I know that I am complete in Christ.  No man, no job, no hobby, no friend, NOTHING can make me complete - only God can.  I am A DAUGHTER OF THE KING, I am chosen, I am loved, I am forgiven.


Little did I know what was coming in the next few months...God knew though.  He knew being so strong on the truth that I am complete because of Him would become such a strong foundation for what was coming in the summer.  In June, I would be hit with HARD news - choices of friends - of people I looked up, respected, trusted, loved, and were role models to me.  I wondered whom I could trust.  I wondered who people really were.  I wondered what happens that people can't be real, that who I thought these people were weren't really who they were at all.  God brought me to a place where I KNEW I could trust Him, He would never leave me nor forsake me, He was my foundation, I was complete because of Him. 


The summer continued...one rough thing after another.  These are the words I wrote to a friend to explain the best I could on what life was like: 
"This is how I feel - falling on my face on pavement while sprinting...and as I slowly start to get up, being slapped in the face again only to be knocked back down...and repeat...repeat each week for 9 weeks...yes that has been my summer. While it may not sound like fun, if you let God use these times and seek Him in the midst - well you can see beauty out of ashes...really! I'm NOT saying I haven't had struggles, just saying that I'm determined to let God rule over this and not me, my emotions or thoughts, or other people. It's been a summer full of losses and grief...but God has continued to remain faithful and stable. Life can literally crumble around you, but God doesn't. Some days I hate it, some days are hard...but God has never left me and has continued to work on me. I admit, I have had days where I wanted to run away yet how does that allow God to work in the midst of the ashes...and am I trusting Him in the midst of the situation or my emotions/thoughts instead?"


In the midst of this though I had SWEET times with the Lord!  What an incredible blessing!  I reflect back, and look at how grateful I am that God loves me SO MUCH, for the HOPE I have through HIM, for how I am complete in HIM, and how THE KING cherishes this little Princess!!


And so, this is the start of my journey in blogging the journey of "A Daughter Of The KIng!"