The great evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers once said that “[a man or woman] will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has done for [them] on the inside.” Here I stand, a testament of this amazement & of the radical, transformative power of Jesus Christ. Though my grandparents – a faithful man & woman of God – included me in their worship every Sunday at church & sacrificed to send me to a private Christian school, I did not begin to come into my own faith until the age of sixteen. Despite my immaturity, I began to see my pride & my lack of emotional control for what it was: sin keeping me from an intimate relationship with Jesus. When I began to see the Holy Spirit transform my heart & sanctify my character to look more like my perfect Savior, I noticed this change affecting all of my Earthly relationships as well. “Intentional” was the word Jesus put into my heart at the age of sixteen, & it is what I still strive to be as I pray daily for Him to continue to purify the areas of my life where I fall short of goodness and righteousness. I have been challenged enough mentally & emotionally in the last seven years to clearly see how God has rooted out sin in my heart that I know I could not have overcome in my own helplessness. If there were ever a person who felt they did not deserve the love & the grace of a benevolent Creator whose mercies are new every morning & whose faithfulness has protected my family and I from desperate circumstances, it is I, but my story is one of hope, because my God has been so “intentional” to grow me in my most hopeless moments. If “desperation” or “hopelessness” are words that resonate as closely to your heart as they have to mine, please email me at haleyshalane@gmail.com to connect with me & hear more of how Jesus can bring light into the darkness of your life as He has to mine.
