"Thank you God for this wonderful night," she kept saying. "Thank you God for doing what you're doing in Kelly's life," was another thing she said. "Thank you God for Nathan," was another. She just kept thanking God for anything and everything good in our lives at that moment. When Nathan began to pray, he said the same basic things.
When he stopped, there was an expectant silence, as though I was supposed to go next.
"Oh, my turn?" I asked.
"If you'd like," they said. I had never prayed aloud before. I had a few times in my own head, but it was always clumsy and I usually got distracted in the middle of a prayer with another prayer or something I had to do later.
"Dear God"
"Okay. Well..." I began, not sure what to say. And then, all of a sudden, I didn't think about what I should have said, I just started talking. "Dear God." But no sooner had the words spilled from my mouth than tears spilled from my eyes. I felt so unworthy all of a sudden. I knew I had cursed His name so many times before, and I had even used Him to get closer to Nathan. I felt so ashamed, more ashamed than I ever had before. But at the same time, I felt forgiven. I knew that God was with me from that moment on. It was like God was, once again, offering me a platter with all of His love and goodness and He said, "Take it or leave it. Please take it."So I did.
As much as I had wanted to be with Nathan before that, he wasn't even on my mind very much that night. My thoughts kept drifting back to Ky. It almost seemed as though God was telling me that Nathan was just the missing link, the one who could lead me to salvation. But he wasn't the one for me.
I told one of my girl friends what had happened to me the next day, and she invited me to her church. I had thought about Ky several times over the week, and when we met on Sunday, she told me that Ky went to the church we were going to. My heart skipped a beat. I had thought about him enough times that I couldn't wait to see him again, even before knowing he went to the same church.
When we walked through the doors about five minutes before the service was supposed to start, we saw Ky sitting in the chair to the left of us. He looked tired, but he smiled and sat up when he saw us.
"Hi Kelly! What are you doing here?" he said.
"Savanna invited me."
"Really? It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you, too," I said. Ky is the kind of person who will tell you what's on his mind and he makes each person he talks to feel special and important.
We went into the service, and again, I was brought to tears. It was so wonderful to be there, with such loving people, all loving and worshiping the only thing that should truly be worshiped. And you know Who I'm talking about.
After the service, we went to the Little Caesars close by and ate lunch, the three of us. I was so excited about God and everything that I turned on some Christian music, and I immediately fell in love with it.
"Isn't it great to see her like this?!" Savanna said (I was bouncin' up and down as I sat there, singin' along as much as I could with food in my mouth).
"Yeah, yeah it is," Ky said, looking at me with a big grin.
Stronger Than Ever
To make a long story a little shorter, Ky and I have been dating for almost a year now, and my faith in God is stronger than ever. I thank God every single day that I have Ky. He's my best friend, and he really is proof that God exists. Had it not been for both God and Ky, I might have ended up heading down a wrong path, a path that I had already started to tread upon. But when God saw me going down that path, He sent one of His people in to save me.
Who would have thought that an angry, strange, agnostic girl like me could ever have believed in something so humbling and obvious?
