I Am Grateful

I grew up in a small Texas town, the youngest of four kids.  My parents worked hard to support our family; my father for a company that sold headstones, and my mother was a seamstress.  We never talked about the family finances, but I knew we weren’t wealthy.  Most of my clothes were handmade by my mom, so when all the other kids were wearing Jordache jeans and Calvin Klein jeans, I was wearing Ernie Melcher originals.  I didn’t understand how awesome that was at the young age of 15 – I really wanted to wear Calvin Kleins.  And when all the other high school seniors were excitedly talking about where they were going to college after graduation, I knew that college wasn’t in my future.  I would go straight into the work force.
 
For many years, I struggled with my lack of a college education.  I learned to duck out of parties, meetings and gatherings to avoid the subject of college.  And if the subject would catch me off guard, I would joke that I went to the college of hard knocks.  I dreamed of going to college, even well into adulthood.  I felt I needed that degree to complete me so I could be more like everyone else who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt.  
 
It took a trip 10,000 miles away to Mozambique for me to see that God’s plan was never for me to go to college to earn a degree in something I would never use.  God’s plan was for me to be a normal, ordinary person who learned as much as possible in the marketplace, and then use everything He had taught me to serve His Church.  Every skill, interest and even hardship that I lived through for the first fifty years of my life would be used for God’s glory.  I helped feed thousands of kids in Xai Xai at Christmas parties, including one little boy named Oracio who incredibly touched my heart.  I shared my story of shame and forgiveness with hundreds of women at Radiante Conference in Tembene knowing that there was one woman who sat in the audience that day who needed to hear my testimony.  And as I stood in front of a small group of Celebration Church staff members in Mozambique teaching computer skills, I was in awe that God could use this uneducated, small town Texas girl to teach computer skills 10,000 miles from her home.  
 
I am grateful that God never gave up on me.  I’m grateful that He had and still has a plan for my life.  I am grateful that He can take every victory and hardship in my life and use it for His perfect plan.  
 
“So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together to fit into God’s perfect plan of bringing good into our lives, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfill His designed purpose.”  Romans 8:28
 
~ Margie Reed