A new friend and I were sitting at the table talking about our lives. Our kids are friends which is what brought us together to visit. We are the same age and God is important to both of us. In fact, we found out we went to Bidwell Junior High School at the same time and were in the same class. It was fun getting acquainted. Then the conversation began to get serious.
Our personal stories came out. She told me her story and I shared mine. She is an accomplished woman, a former corporate leader, a woman who climbed the ladder of success. She was also a woman in search of meaning. Her search took her in different directions. It wasn’t until a friend brought her to a Christian meeting that she found her home in Christianity.
Her life changed when she became a Christian. Ungodly attitudes and relationships came to an end after she chose to follow Christ. Unhealthy baggage in areas of bondage in her past life needed cleansing and healing. She sought counsel. Soul ties from past sexual relations were acknowledged, confessed, and freed. Her inward person was healing. Life was becoming sweet in new and beautiful ways. No longer did success drive her. Things of God were taking root.
Soon after she became a Christian, this woman married a Christian man. Then they became parents. She left the corporate world to become a homemaker mom and then she began home-schooling their children. All that glitters is not gold. Life took a turn for the worse. The marriage was faltering. They tried to keep it afloat.
The bubble popped. She was serious about her faith. He was not. Problems escalated. Eventually they separated and then divorced. It was a shock to return to the work force after being a hands-on mom. It grieved her. Life became complicated. There were custody battles and disagreements as to the parameters for child rearing and what would be allowed. It was terribly troubling.
She asked about my children, my life, and how God has worked in my life. Because of my book, she knew I’d been through the ravages of a custody battle (everyone gets hurt in a custody battle, there are no winners or victors). Tears welled as emotions surfaced while I related some of my story. The connection between us was strong. We each had many questions of the other. “Three hours seem like fifteen minutes,” she said to me. “You understand how hard it is, the struggle. You’re so easy to talk to.”
The time had gone swiftly. I had learned, too, what it is like to radically change mid-stream during a successful career and worldly focus. Her journey was one of great change with difficult but precious times. Both of us met in the heart and felt a kinship of caring. She and I had learned lessons that are learned in the hard places of life.
In our sharing, we each gave an explanation for why we help others. She uses her words as a compliment to acts of service. She helps others, especially the elderly. While helping, she often shares the grace of God. At the time, she was helping a couple in their eighties with some pretty challenging issues. While we were talking, she gave me an illustration for how she sees her life. Her explanation was beautiful. I will share it.
She sees herself as a teapot.
“I am like a little teapot. Christ pours His spirit into me and then I pour out to others from what He has given me. It comes in the top–from God to me, and then it goes out the spout–from me to someone else. I do things for others things I would never have done before He came into my life. And, I am happy to do them. The important part is to keep myself open to God, to let Him continually fill me so I have something to give to people He puts in my path.”
My friend’s analogy is a perfect picture of how it works in spiritual life when it is real and authentic. We allow God access to our lives, we open up to His leading and filling, and then He uses us to help others with their struggles and concerns by pointing them to what God has to offer them.
