I can think of multiple facets of my life that I’ve experienced God working or moving me.
I could tell you about my single days, not understanding what I was doing wrong or simply why a relationship failed, until I met my wife. I could tell you about my son being born seven weeks early and having 45-day NICU stay and God granting my wife and I strength and patience, and his medical team the knowledge to treat him appropriately.
Instead I will tell you about my journey to faith. I did not grow up in an overly religious household. My parents are divorced and neither attended church services regularly. I saw my dad just every other weekend. My dad spent a lot of time in the yard doing yard work or cleaning the house and grocery shopping. There wasn’t a lot of “quality” bonding time.
When I was in high school, my dad decided to start attending church. In order to simply spend more time with him, I asked him to wake me up so I could go with him one day. He looked at me, surprised. At first, I didn’t pay much attention or even really follow along.
When our pastor retired, we called a new pastor who was a bit younger, closer to my parents’ age. His sermons were relatable, he used movies and music and everyday things like that to tie his sermon together. Suddenly, he had my attention. Things started clicking and I started paying more and more attention. Eventually I went through confirmation classes.
You see, I didn’t know it at the time, but God used my desire to have a better relationship with my dad to develop a stronger relationship with Him. It took years for me to see this, as a matter of fact it took almost five years for me to realize this. It was when I was studying in college at a local Starbucks, when I met two local Christian bookstore owners, that helped me see these things.
God works when we don’t even realize it. Even writing this has given me the opportunity to reflect and appreciate His work when it easily gets lost or forgotten. Thanks be to God!
Jeffrey Froh
Council Member