I waited patiently for the Lord. He turned to me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
(Psalm 40:1-2)
Before we continue with the miracle that happened within the next month after Vertical, I want to rewind a year to another event that greatly impacted me.
I was reading through a blog post one day, when I came across a comment that I thought was really good. Feeling prompted by God, I posted a short reply, something like: "This is so good!"
The person who had written the original comment found my blog through the link in my name on the comment. She began reading and really appreciated some of my writings--and posted her own comments.
That was the beginning of our friendship. We lived miles apart; yet, through some providential circumstances, we met up a few weeks later. I enjoyed getting to know this lady, whom I'll call Emily for the sake of her privacy, and we began emailing back and forth.
Emily shares my Mennonite background, albeit a much more conservative version. Like me, she left the Mennonite church some years ago. Unlike me, however, she had ditched a lot more of the legalism.
To put things in perspective, I was 27 at the time. I lived, worked, and worshiped on my parents' farm. I was incredibly isolated and sheltered, and really had not grown up mentally. And I had very few friends.
Emily, by contrast, lived on her own, attended a supportive church, and had a lot more "real-world" perspective. In addition, she was able to give me a perspective from outside of my "bubble". There were some places where our beliefs and practices differed. However, I knew that Emily was a Godly woman who loved the Lord. So which one of us was right? Or did it even matter?
When you're stuck in a pit, you need someone to pull you out. Obviously, I had the Lord, Who had been gently leading me out of where I had been for so long. But He also works through the Body of Christ.
And that's what Emily provided to me: a hand to pull me out and onto the Solid Rock.
Thank you, Emily.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.joelhorst.com/2019/05/04/miracles-in-my-life-part-3-a-hand-out-of-the-pit/