The Invitation

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat was is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."

Isaiah 55:1a-2

The ever present invitation to come be with Jesus; the invitation for the thirsty to drink, for the hungry to eat, for the laborer to find satisfaction.

The invitation had been sent over and over to Christina. She usually stamped it, unopened, with a "return to sender" label and put it right back in the mail. Sometimes she'd open the invitation and glance at the letters, and set it aside, eventually thinking that party had long since happened.

But God kept sending her invitations to come to Him, and last week she responded.

I got a text from Christina on Monday: "Hey, got anytime this week that you would want to do a quiet time with me or just get together?" A quiet time?! Quite surprised Christina initiated with me the desire to read the Bible, I texted her back a time and place, curious to hear about what was going on in that heart of hers.

Sitting across from her at Starbucks yesterday, she began to pour out her story between sips of hot chocolate, about how she discovered God in a real way last week.

"Lauren, no one notices when I'm missing; missing from Navs, missing from rugby, missing from class. . .all these things that I thought would fill my life are disappointing me. And then I realized, Navigators won't satisfy me, rugby won't satisfy me, class won't satisfy me. I need God, and I never thought I'd say that."

Ha! Neither did I! I've been praying for Christina, meeting with her, trying to make the Bible as exciting and clear as possible (without having to pull out felt-board Jesus or break out the tap shoes), and nothing has seemed to click. But all this time, God has been faithfully sending Christina invitations to come to Him, and she is finally responding.

I sat across from Christina and sent silent praises to God, as I listened to this 21 year old spout off these new epiphanies. We read Isaiah 55 together and she wrote in her journal.

She finished her hot chocolate and made a comment about having too much caffeine, and then we planned out what to read this week. And I am still amazed. God is so kind to constantly be sending out invitations to come to Him. To have relationship with him and discover what truly satisfies.

Me and Christina at the Valentine's Dinner this past February.