By Rachel Yowell
Once
you’re out of college, time flies faster than it ever has before, a phrase I
have heard consistently among post-college aged folks. And now I know what
they’re talking about! Just like that it’s already February of our Fellows
year! I have learned more about myself, about the Lord, and about the world
than I ever thought I would, and with that has come a multitude of emotions.
This journey that we’re on, this family that we get to be a part of allows us
to experience deep excitement and joy, as well as deep sadness with each other.
And everything we get to experience with one another is only a minute fraction
of what our Creator feels alongside us. I think it’s beautiful that as brothers
and sisters in Christ, we are invited into each other’s lives, and the joys and
hardships that come along with it. It allows us to know each other deeply. It
allows us to forgive one another. It allows us to accept each other, not in
spite of our flaws, but accept each other with
our flaws. It allows us to be known and be accepted, no matter what. I realized
this after our testimony retreat; we laughed together and we wept together, and
I think God was delighted watching us do so. That was when I realized that it
doesn’t make sense for us fellows to get along as well as we do. We are each so
different, but we love each other. No one feels the need to be someone they
aren’t. No one feels the need to be “better” than the other. We recognize each
other’s strengths and weaknesses. We don’t have to hide who we are, because we
are accepted, and we can rejoice in our strengths and weaknesses. I think
that’s what it is supposed to be like. This is the type of community Jesus
wanted for us. This is the community that Jesus has for us in Heaven, and we’re
experiencing a taste of it now.
In growing together and
understanding each other better, I’ve learned that we are far more broken and
in need of Jesus than we’re willing to admit (most of the time), and all the
more, we are far more loved than we ever imagined! It hurts to see a brother or
a sister suffer and hurt. I want to take away their pain and suffering. But,
Jesus already did. And though I don’t want people to hurt or suffer, God uses
our time of hurt to draw us closer to Him. I’ve learned that I can’t fix
people, I can’t fix situations, I can’t take away pain and suffering, but I
know that God knows what He’s doing despite of how I feel. We can love each other
well by reminding each other of God’s powerful truths and the hope we have in Him,
and that is better than any of us are able to offer. Living into those truths,
and praying those truths over each other, and over yourself, will remind you
who you are and who Jesus is when the storms come. A recent conversation with
my mentor allowed me to realize that because we are all created in God’s image,
every person has the ability to love God, whether they choose to or not. Every
action we take has a reason behind it. And that reason has everything to do
with how we view God and what we believe about Him. We have the opportunity to allow
people to see that ability to love God, in every person we meet, no matter what
they currently think about Him. We can choose to let them believe the lies the
world is feeding them, or we can speak truth and love over them, and believe
that they are loved by Jesus, not in spite of their flaws, but including their
flaws. I think that seeing people as image-bearers of Christ and choosing to
love people no matter what will change our culture immensely. In our Culture
& Ethics class, we were challenged to think how to impact culture for the
sake of the Gospel. I think everything I have been learning and everything I
have been witnessing lately is helping me to understand how we can impact our
culture for the sake of the Gospel. We need to be reminded of our need and our
brokenness. We need to be reminded of God’s love for us. We need to be quick to
forgive. And we need to love people where they are at, relentlessly. We’re all
broken. We’re all loved more than we can fathom. What if we all lived that out
in each other’s lives? What a profound impact that will have on our culture,
especially right now. I’m thankful for the example of this that my fellow
brothers and sisters have been. To Him be the Glory.
