Growing up in a small town in North Carolina, I had a good family yet was plagued by one thing. Alcohol.
As a young girl, I was not sure what I did wrong that made my Mom drink. I would find her hidden liquor bottles and pour them down the sink. Growing up in this environment created within me a fearful and insecure heart. Grateful for a good father, my Dad always supported and encouraged me. We went to church every week. I always attended youth group and choir and enjoyed being at my church. I was given a Bible but was never taught to read it. It sat on my nightstand like a good luck charm.
Eventually I left home for college to pursue a nursing career. I studied hard. My Mom had been a nurse, and I loved serving people and learning.
One year into my nursing career on an oncology floor, my Mom died in her sleep. My Dad called that morning to give me the sad news. Overwhelmed with grief, my job became too painful to continue, so I moved closer to home to work in a university hospital setting.
Shortly after my move home, I met one of my nursing school friends for coffee. She invited me to the Urbana Student Mission Conference after Christmas.
Little did I know the impact accepting her invitation would have.
At the conference, which included more than 18,000 students, I heard amazing speakers share about Jesus. Billy Graham and Elisabeth Elliot were among the most memorable. God blessed me with such incredible teachers at that conference whose messages helped me begin to climb out of my pit of despair and mend my broken heart. I learned to trust that God had a good plan for my life.
One conference changed the course of my life.
Responding to all that I had received, I began to sit with Jesus each day. I read my Bible, memorized His word, and learned to pray. Over the course of many months of diligently developing my spiritual disciplines and actively seeking God, my heart became whole and healthy again.
Today, when I hear the lyrics to Cory Asbury’s popular song “Reckless Love,” I am reminded of the wonders of the overwhelming, everlasting, reckless love of God. I have included the song’s refrain below, but I hope you will go listen to the song in its entirety. And as you listen, be reminded of His reckless love for you!
“Reckless Love”* Refrain:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine.
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away.
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God,
You left the ninety-nine to find the one!
You were singing over me with love…You breathed your life into me.
*“Reckless Love,” Copyright Ó 2017, Cory Asbury and Bethel Music
The decision to go to one conference changed my heart and eventually the trajectory of my entire life.
