Friday, July 22, 2011

Her Story: Annie

hi friends!

can I please just tell you how excited I am for school to start because I feel like at that point, my life will slow down. seriously. things have been super crazy for the westmorelands this summer. and I see no end in sight!

but, on a really awesome note, we've been married 6 months today!

{can I get married again to wear the dress one more time?}

whoop whoop! we went to dinner, and are home in bed before 11...yep, we're married.

this week I am so happy to have miss annie from annies musings. she is a beautiful young christian woman full of amazing talents from God (like creating blog designs!). I'm in love with the simplicity of her story that she shares with you girls. mostly because...and I'm not sure too many people advocate this...but you don't have to have a really horrible experience or life to know Christ. He's always waiting and it's really great if we find Him at the age of five, or twenty five. He still loves us just as much.

I'll keep quite now so you can read how awesome she is:


I am the girl without a story.

You know those testimonies you always love to hear? Like a drug addict or prostitute, whom God just crashed with all of a sudden, and turned their lives totally around.

There's one I've heard before, about a man who committed adultery, and afterwards got divorced. He was confronted with his sin, repented, and remarried his ex-wife.

We hear such stories and we think, Wow. Our God is a God of restoration. Of salvation.

I do not have such a story.

Mine reads like this: I was raised in a Christian home, saved at five, recommitted my life to Christ at thirteen, and again at nineteen.

{As you can imagine, I've had to change my phone number and move often, because Hollywood just won't stop calling.}

I was challenged a few years ago to think differently. To think differently of not only mine, but of all the testimonies that are simple in the telling.

They're stories of preservation.

They are summed up, I think, in these verses:

"Praise our God, all peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard;
he has preserved our lives
and kept our feet from slipping.
For you, God, tested us,
you refined us like silver."
{Psalms 66:8-10}
Many times, God has tested the extent to which I said I would set my life apart for Him. It has cost me popularity, friendships, and relationships. But it cost Him much more, to be able to set in front of me the choice between those pursuits and Himself: His own life. And to say that I would not sacrifice lesser things for Him when He sacrificed that for me, is, in my mind, to spit on His face.

I am not perfect. I will be the first to tell you that. It is only by God's grace that I have made the choice to keep following Him, even when it's difficult.

Praise Him. He has preserved me, in many ways.

I think stories like mine serve as a message that God will preserve what you set apart for Him. If that means time, money, relationships {platonic or otherwise}, even your very life, He will be faithful to keep it.

I think many of us worry when we think of everything that God commands, because it's a long list of thou shalts and thou shalt nots, and we work ourselves into a frenzy thinking of all the ways we will surely fail. But I don't think that's what a relationship with God is supposed to be. I think it's supposed to be a story of surrender, of Jesus working His way into our every fiber, so that we serve as His hands and feet with everything we do and say.

It starts as simply as what I said to Him while sitting at my desk five summers past, heartbroken.

"God, I can't fix this, but You can."

And He has.

That's my story.

{if you'd like to guest post on the her story series, please email: meganw122@yahoo.com}

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This story is beautiful Annie. And Megan, happy 6 months and I'm loving your blog! :)

Sarah said...

Wonderful story! Thank you so much

Christina said...

Very true! Thanks so much for such a simple, yet beautiful post. Also, happy 6 months Meg! Our 1 year anniversary is quickly approaching and I can't believe it.

Lauren said...

A. I am SO glad I found your blog via Annie. I love it!

B. I love Annie's story. It's simple. Working with youth girls that are trying to get a hold on what their testimony is, I hear so often the line "I don't have a story". Yet, Annie just proved we all do. :)

Annie said...

Annie, this is beautiful. (And Meg, thank you for this series. It's wonderful.) These lines were my favorite: "I think many of us worry when we think of everything that God commands, because it's a long list of thou shalts and thou shalt nots, and we work ourselves into a frenzy thinking of all the ways we will surely fail. But I don't think that's what a relationship with God is supposed to be. I think it's supposed to be a story of surrender, of Jesus working His way into our every fiber, so that we serve as His hands and feet with everything we do and say." So true. What a story of grace.

Young People in Love said...

Happy six months! My husband and I are coming up on 18 months :) Hooray for 6 month milestones!!! :)

 
site design by designer blogs