She only waited 50 years.

I wont be disclosing who this blog is about, but I wanted to share an experience I am having with a friend.

I have never been one to stand up and preach the gospel to anyone. Maybe its a flaw. Maybe its because I have made so many STUPID mistakes in my 32 years that I don't feel preaching the gospel to anyone is appropriate. I just want to live in such a way that those around us notice a difference and want to know what we are doing differently. That simple. Do I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the restored church on the earth today. Without a shadow of a doubt, YES!  Do I think those who aren't will be doomed...No. Its not my place, nor anyone else's, to determine that. Which is done entirely to much in this part of the world. Treating anyone differently because they choose to live a different religion is not what we have been commanded to do. Its taken me awhile to grab  hold of that idea of thinking. That the way I treat others, that didn't have the same line of thinking as me or lived contrary to the way our church taught, was WRONG.

So wrong.

Not until I met this friend did I realize how wrong I was.

I met her in a gas station several years ago. A very unlikely place to meet a friend, I know, but the older I get the more I realize that God puts people in my life for a reason. Its has become important for me to understand those relationships. I saw her a couple times a month and it was pretty superficial, nothing that really made us "friends". Over the past several years we would see each other more often and she would ask Adam and I a few question about our religion. I thought it would be better if I sent her things to read instead of answering questions, because that is the way I learn.  I  sent her things to read. Later I would ask her if she had any questions about anything. I knew she didn't read them because she would change the subject. Fair enough...I would just leave it alone and wait until she was ready.

"You can take the horse down to the water, but you can't make him drink it"

Years would go by and not another word would ever be said.

Then last year when we were all just hanging out she asked Adam and I some point blank questions about things. Not necessarily about the LDS church, but the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was thrilled. Not because I wanted her to be LDS, but because she needed the spirit in her life. I think everyone does. What would have been a short visit lasted until the wee hours of the morning. In our church we talk about sacred places...that night as we talked about Jesus Christ...we were in a sacred place. I knew she felt it. She had tears in her eyes. It was a special moment for all of us.

 It was a break through.

Last year brought a lot of huge changes to our small family. It started off with my husband changing career paths and then a few months later being offered a promotion. (Only a two hour drive a day)Then the sale of our house to an amazing family that was an answer to another one of my prayers. (As much work as we put into that home, I didn't want a family to move into it that would destroy it.) Then last but not least I "retired" from working outside the home and became a full time stay-at-home mother and wife. Phew. Catch all that...oh and by the way we have no where to live.

It was stressful, but it was a new chapter in our lives. It was a fantastic opportunity for me to foster relationships that I had neglected because of all the hours I put into work. She was one of those relationships I chose to foster. We saw each other a lot the next few months. Pretty much everyday. It was great to have a friend that wasn't associated with where I used to work. After working for so long I needed to see how to live a life without a "job".  I needed to learn to enjoy the moment. She taught me that. She taught me how important it was to

 Just sit and be still.

 Enjoy the sun.

 The wind.

The grass in between my toes.  

Just to appreciate time.

When I was with her, time seemed to stand still. I knew although she was watching the way I lived, she didn't judge me. She just loved me because we were friends. Not for what I could do for her, or what I could give her but because we were friends. Friends like that are very few and far between.

I have always worried about what my house looked like when anyone came over. How it looked. Were my walls clean? (I have had people make comments about dust in my house) Had I dusted this week? Are my beds made? Is everything just perfect? Does it smell good or bad? Then one day as we were sitting on her couch talking, people just started showing up at her house unannounced. (feeling appalled and uncomfortable I wanting to leave) She just brought them in and we all just hung out together. Talked like family. She never cared what her house looked like. If she did, it never showed. It was a very humbling experience. She doesn't have much. Grew up and raised her children with little to nothing. Yet as these unannounced guests would arrive she was making them coffee, (I hear those Mormon's gasping) Offering them sweet tea, (and another Gasp of Horror) or something sweet she may have had.

Acts of a true Christian woman.

When we got settled into our home, about an hour away from her, we would call each other often and just chit chat about anything and everything. Its been a long time since I have been able to talk to someone about everything from politics to what's for dinner, without one of us getting upset about an opinion. (Usually the other person, but who is keeping track.) It was nice to have someone to talk to on the phone while I cleaned the house. Adult conversations are important...especially being with a toddler all day.

One day a few months ago she asked if I could send her some more information about what we believed...her husband was asking some questions. --Usually this is where any other "Good Mormon" would start sending over missionaries. (Hey Peter Priesthood don't roll your eyes at me!) I sent her more information. After I mailed it I never mentioned it again. I honestly didn't think she would even open the package or read anything I sent her. Then a few days after I mailed the package, she called me and asked me questions about things she was reading! Say WHAT!? My first missionary moment. (Better write that down somewhere)

She told me that day, that she had never read the bible. Ever. That although she had known there was something missing in her life she ignored it. Never knowing that her Heavenly Father really truly loves her. Never knowing that she could be forgiven for anything she had ever done if she would repent and never look back. I sat and listened to her voice crack and then her cracked voice turned in to sobbing in-between words. She told me how all her life she had ignored the promptings she had been given to go to church or to read. How powerful that conversation was for her, and for me. She had found her "uncommon courage" to stand outside of the world and listen to the one that created her. I am eternally grateful that she shared that with me.

Now when she calls (which is at least once a week) she tells me what she has read and is on FIRE about it. Its like a child learning to read for the first time. She can't get enough. I will text her and ask her how her reading is coming along and she will respond with "Just finished. Read for two hours this morning"...proud moment! Or my favorite when she asked me about Cain and Abel and I read the verse where Cain said "I am not my brother's keeper" and she came back with "Did he really just SASS God!?" (never looked at it THAT way) We laughed so hard. That was the first time she had read that story.

Our Father in Heaven works miracles every.single.day. I am so thankful that she taught me to slow down and take time to enjoy them. I know she thinks I am the one that brought her to Christ, but I think she was finally ready to listen. I was just the vessel that he was working through that finally reached her. It wasn't REALLY me

. When I stopped judging her for who she had become over the years, started looking at her for what she was in the eyes of our Father, that is when I loved her for what she really was.

 A child of God.

I pray that someday she will decide to be baptized. Although I have my idea of what church I would like her to BE baptized in...(Cough cough...LDS CHURCH) I honestly don't care where. I just want her to have a relationship with Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. (Can I still keep my missionary moment even if she doesn't become LDS?? I am keeping it anyway. Back up off me.)

Sometimes its not about the crops you reap, but the seeds you sow.

Love one another.

xoxo