Today's guest blogger is Stacie Gibson. Stacie is a certified biblical counselor with ACBC and is also in the process of becoming certified with IABC. She and her husband serve together at Grace Baptist Church in Dansville, NY and are involved with the church’s counseling ministry.
I did not grow up in a Christian home nor was I exposed to
Christianity much, except attending a local youth group with a few of my
friends, but that was purely for the great food they served! When my
husband and I had our first child, we decided it was “time to grow up and get
serious about life,” and go to church. Neither of us were born again, but we
wanted our son to have a “normal” life that neither of us had growing up. So, we tried out a Baptist church in town. The
people there were nice and they welcomed us with open arms. For the first few years, I sat in those pews
with deaf ears to the Word of God. I did
not know any of the hymns nor did I know how to find the books of the Bible. It
was quite embarrassing for me at that time because everyone around me seemed to
have their act together, or so I thought they did! I really felt like I did not fit in after a
while. I felt like an outcast. I did not have a great Christian upbringing as most
of church members had. I had lived a
life consumed with drunkenness, some drug use, fornication with my husband
before marriage and *gasp* I wore pants to church. At that time in my life, I
really felt that there was no way I could live the Christian life and be
received by God until I cleaned up my act.
Thankfully, in God’s perfect timing, our church started a
Titus 2 Ministry. I eagerly signed up because I wanted to have an older lady in
my life to show me how I could live the Christian life. At first, I was a bit intimidated by the woman
the Lord placed in my life, but soon, we developed a wonderful relationship
that still lives on today. Cindy would come to my house once a week, sometimes
more, and guided me in the Scriptures showing me how I could be a woman who
pleased the Lord, and how the Gospel could radically change me. As I look back now to those moments 10 years
ago, I realize that my friend Cindy was obedient to the command of the Great Commission.
She became an example that I wanted to imitate because of the way the Lord used
her to change me. Cindy could have come
to my home and taught me baking and sewing (not that those are wrong, but
sometimes we minimize Titus 2 to just those things), but she didn’t. She knew I needed the Gospel and wanted to
introduce me to Jesus Christ. God, in His goodness and sovereignty, saved me
and brought me into His family using my friend Cindy and the Word of God to
transform me.
The relationship I had with Cindy was a like the story in
Acts 8:26-31 with Philip and the Ethiopian. Like the Ethiopian, I admitted to
my friend that I could not understand the Scriptures, so I needed someone to
guide me. Cindy approached me and sat in “my chariot” and read me God’s Word
each time we met. Through the Holy Spirit guiding me and convicting me, I
started to slowly understand and get excited about the Gospel. My feelings of
being an outcast were shattered by the Good News that Christ died for people
like me; a sinner. I am pretty sure the
Ethiopian felt that same excitement because due to his physical defect and
race, he was considered unfit according to the Mosaic Law to approach God. This must have been a wonderful thing to
witness in the New Testament times because it meant that salvation was for the
Gentiles, not just the Jews.
How many women sit in our pews feeling like this? Many women will come to your church with
sinful pasts, drug addiction, kids out of wedlock, or a real physical problem
that leaves them feeling like the Ethiopian; an outcast unworthy of approaching
God. Just like my friend Cindy, we need
to be obedient and run to the “Ethiopians “in our churches. We need to be like Philip, who was obedient
when the Spirit of the Lord said to him, “Go over and join his chariot.” Was Philip’s response, “No Lord, I am too
busy,” or “I don’t want to get into a relationship, it’s too time consuming and
I just have so much going on right now,” or “I’m not a people person,” ? No, Philip didn’t have some of the excuses we
frequently use; the Scriptures say “He ran to him!” These verses should move us and convict us
in our own life to be obedient to the Great Commission and to get involved in
the lives of other women as my dear friend Cindy did with me. May the Lord use
us to introduce other women to Jesus.
Stacie Gibson is a wife to her husband Matt
of almost 20 years and together they have four children. Stacie is a keeper of her home, home educator, loves to read, share
God’s word with women, and spend time with her family.
Labels: Guest Blogger- Gibson