Gateway

This post is very personal and I am going to be very vulnerable so please don’t judge me. I am very open about my past but have never shared these pieces. I will also be making my blog private so if you would like to continue following my journey of finding me, subscribe today. I loved this quote from my First 5 bible study today. It really hit home to a topic and area I have been struggling with lately. I have had many gateways that have led me to Christ and that were some of the most painful experiences in my life. The first gateway I can think of was when I quit using drugs. That week I had lost 5 friends to overdoses, from the same heroin I was using. After burying 5 friends, a friend and I decided that it was time to be done with this hell that we were living. After days of being locked in my house with blue Powerade, the toilet and what I can only describe as God holding me I was able to detox and start my journey of recovery. ( I suggest you use a hospital and medical staff to detox) 9 days later my boyfriend at the time called me from boot camp an asked me to marry him. This was my ticket out of the hell I had been living and a gateway to a better life. We got married 4 weeks later and took off on our adventure to NAS Whidbey Island, WA. The next gateway and painful place that sticks out was 5 years later when Carl and I went through a divorce. If you have been through a divorce you know how hard and painful they are, if you haven’t it is one of the hardest things I have been through. Although it was painful so much recovery, growth and direction was given to me while I was away from my family and old friends all those years. This is where a great friend saw my potential after being a high school dropout to give me the finances to take my first class at the local college. I longed for so much more and she saw that and believed in me. After taking my first college class and working in a special education classroom for my job I knew what my calling in life was. I know we all have painful places and might even be going through one right now but I want you to know that God is using this hard place as a pathway to him. You might not be able to see that right now but you will. Lord, Please don’t let us be unaware of Your presence with us today. Take the painful places in our lives and use them as a gateway into Your presence. In Jesus’ name, amen. I just want to end with a prayer for each of you.