Means of His Grace

     A quote I read long ago (and am unable to find, and therefore can't properly accredit, or even use the exact words) said, God will often use the object of your greatest resistance as a means of His grace.  This is encouraging, and is biblically validated.  Romans 8:28 (which happens to be my life verse) says, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  God can use anything, but it is most amazing to me (and probably most of us) when God uses something we didn't want, or that was difficult for us.  I can think of a special example.

     I grew up at a unique time, in that my childhood and teen years were all within the 20th century.  Even though I was an 80s kid and a 90s teen, the things we had were probably more similar to things children and youth in the 50's had than to things kids just ten years younger than me had (we had VCR's, and our telephones had answering machines, but those are the only big things I could think of we had that my parent's generation hadn't).  Technology made extremely fast advances when I was a college student in my early 20's.  TV commercials used to have an 800 number at the bottom of the screen to call, and suddenly, this started being accompanied by a website.  People asked each other for their email addresses.  I was reeling from the rapid changes.  And yet still, most of my college years, we used pay phones. I remember as a teenager always having a quarter in my pocket in case I needed to make a call, and by the time I was a college student I carried calling cards with me, especially on mission trips I took.  Anyone remember calling cards?  I never left home without them!

    In the years that followed (more in my later 20's), cell phones advanced to become something we would never have imagined.  Social media became commonly used when I was in my late 20's as well.  Communication had changed so much from my simple childhood and teen years.  I kind of felt threatened and overwhelmed by too many fast changes.  I didn't feel safe or comfortable, and I worried I'd make some faux pas with this new way of interacting.  Really, that was a social anxiety problem, not a technology problem.  

     On a deeper level, what bothered me about this technology was that it seemed to contribute to friendships becoming unhealthy and enmeshed.  When cell phones first became affordable to use (remember when they first came out, you only used them for emergencies, and they cost a fortune), I couldn't spend even a few minutes with a friend without their cell phone ringing.  It seemed like everything suddenly became urgent, and people lost their ability to patiently wait.  It also seemed as if people valued the person on the phone more than the person in front of them.  I had one friend visit me from out of state, and she spent 90% of her time talking on her cell phone with people back home and ignoring me (even though she had spent money to fly out and visit).  I was really hurt by this, and felt really rejected.  It felt like cell phones had normalized rudeness.

     To be fair, I feel that now, with the technology being less of a novelty, people seem to have healthier boundaries than they used to with their phones.  People seem more able to ignore calls and call the person back later.  It's more like it used to be when your home phone rang when you had company.  You could ignore it and get back to the person later.  But back in my late 20's, I felt cell phone destroyed relationships a lot more than they brought people together.  I was anti-cell, anti-social-media.  

We still have a landline phone to this day, in addition to our cell phones.  This is actually the wall phone we've had all our married lives (though we've had a few different numbers this phone was connected to). 

     It took some time and healing, but I have seen how much God has blessed me through technology.  I have been able to make friends with Christians all over the earth.  Every week, I monitor a prayer line, and I get to talk to Christians all over this nation and the world.  I have made lasting friendships with people in Africa, Australia, Canada, and many US states.  With the ability to video chat and call over Facebook messenger, I can touch base with Christian friends without spending a dime!  I wish I could go back in time to my teenage self in the 90s and say, "Hey, in thirty years, you'll have Christian friends all over the world, and you'll call each other for free all the time!"  I woudln't have believed such a blessing could be possible!  It's all in how you use it.  God used that resistance to become a means of His grace.  

     Years ago, in 2009, I faced a scary spiritual warfare situation.  It was the middle of the night, and a student I was mentoring called me, sharing that a friend who was spending the night at her house was manifesting a demon.  I went over to pray with them, but I felt I needed other Christians praying for me.  However, no one in the US that I knew would have been awake.  I didn't think it was fair for other people to lose sleep over this, so I prayed that night/early morning, "Lord, if there is anyone on earth who knows me and is awake, cause them to pray for me right now!"  I later found out a missionary friend in Thailand had felt led to pray for me then.  But now, with this technology, I can contact people directly.  We recently faced another midnight ministry crisis, and we got on messenger and told our friend in Australia.  She was awake (it was daytime there), and got the message right away.  She got her pastor's wife praying for us!  See how the technology helped in ways we never would have imagined?  

     My husband was recently hospitalized.  Visiting hours last most of the day, but there is still a limit, and it was hard bringing our three-year-old in.  It was such a blessing that Walter and I were able to video chat a lot.  That kept us more deeply connected during that trial of a week.  

A screenshot of Walter and me talking on Facebook messenger while he was hospitalized.  Tommy and I visited him every day, but spent far more time on video chat.  

     Another thing technology has done is connect people to ministries.  When I was growing up, my dad used to marvel that, years earlier, people had to wait for a revival to come to the town to hear any other preachers besides their own, but by then (in the 20th century) with the radio, you could listen to biblical preachers all over the country!  Well, today, we can take that even further.  With podcasts and church websites posting their sermons, you can listen to anything online!  My friend in Australia and I have enjoyed listening to each other's churches online.  Ministries are so much more accessible.  I have even gotten to witness to people I didn't know online.  It really is amazing.  Jesus said, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  (Matthew 24:14).  Technology has certainly made that easier!  

     Technology has also helped people feel less isolated.  I know I used to feel I was the only one who believed as I did, because I would hear news commentators and public figures making claims that I found wrong or unbiblical.  Now, the average person has a platform, and we can't be bullied by the media anymore.  We can easily connect with those who share our beliefs, and often find ourselves in the majority, when others would try to make us feel the opposite.  That is a very, very good thing.  

     Technology can never take the place of personal relationships.  If it aids relationships, it is a good thing, but some people put too much stock in technology.  A church I knew of in my hometown (not my church) felt that kids would only want to be there if their program was high tech.  What they didn't realize was that children born in this 21st century aren't impressed by computers and technology.  Thats all commonplace to them.  This church got a whole computerized and video Sunday school curriculum, where there was almost no interaction, and attendance plummeted.  They learned their lesson, and went back to the "old fashioned" way of simply teaching children the Bible, and building relationships with them.  Again, I feel these errors with overdoing technology were more common earlier on.  I think it's more balanced now.  

     God has used an object of my resistance to be a means of His grace in so many ways!  What are some things that you have struggled with?  Have you ever seen any of them become a blessing to you?  Only God could do that, to take something that frightens or offends us, and turn it around to minister His grace.  He knows what we need.  I will close with Second Corinthians 9:8, And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.