Guest Blogger Staci Stallings: Putting People Together
Putting People Together
There are very few things in this life more fulfilling than helping someone else reconnect with God.
There are also very few things that can be as frustrating.
Now picture this:
You and I are standing in a dark room that has an unplugged lamp. YOU have the cord. All I can do is give you instructions. I cannot touch your cord. I cannot plug it in for you.
“Go to the wall.”
“I can’t find the wall.”
“Okay. Then move toward the wall…. Have you moved?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m afraid.”
“It’s okay. Just take a step. One step.”
“But what if I bump into something?”
“You might, but you’re never gonna find the wall by standing there.” Pause. ”Okay. Have you moved?”
“No.”
And you start over again until MAYBE you get the other person to take A step. ONE.
Then you get to start all over again.
Sometimes you actually get them to move, and then they bump into something and stop again.
Sometimes they get going and find the wrong wall.
Even when you get them TO the wall, finding the outlet can be a real challenge.
I am constantly amazed by the patience of God. In fact, one of the most famous verses of the Bible says, “Love is patient.” If God is love as another verse says, then it translates that “God is patient.” To which I say THANK GOD for THAT!
You see, while I and my fellow believers are trying to help others reconnect, God is busy reconnecting ME ever-so-more tightly. I think a lot of the Bible verse: And the two shall become one.
That verse is meant to be about man and woman as husband and wife, but the truth is, it’s also about me and my God.
God wants to connect with us so deeply that there is no me apart from Him. He wants to be my life. Not just “in” my life or a “part of” my life.
The more that is true, the more in His image I become, the more patient I get. (See, how that works?!)
And it’s a good thing sometimes because I have a couple of friends who have come a LONG way in the eight or so years I’ve known the two of them, and they still have their moments!
In the book I’m currently writing the young man is in love with a young woman who has been through a monstrous amount of hurt and grief. She is skittish of relationships, refuses to FEEL anything, and is hiding so much even from herself, he may never reach her. In desperation, he talks with his mother about the situation. She tells him about this love is patient quote, and she says that if he really loves this girl, he’s going to have to stand and wait for her to be ready.
I think, right there, is our calling if we are committed to reconnecting people with God. We must be willing to stand and wait for that person and the breakthrough that IS coming. When is it coming? Sometimes, that’s a good question, and all I can tell you is, “In God’s time!” While you’re waiting, get really good at practicing to be God’s image, and God’s image is love, which is first and foremost… PATIENT!
Staci Stallings, the author of this article, is a stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side. She is a #1 Best Selling Christian author and the founder of both Grace & Faith Author Connection and CrossReads–a site where Christian readers and authors can connect.
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