Welcome back to Getting to Know You! We have been having so much fun getting to know one another through these posts. A few weeks ago in this post, I asked you to list all the cities you have lived in over the course of your life. We had such great participation, and mercy, you all have lived in some places. Several of you, like me, said there were stories behind the places you have lived. So, in today’s Getting To Know You, I want to hear some stories.
Choose one place you have lived and tell us a story that you always associate with that locale.Â
I’ll go first.
In the early 90’s I took a job with Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Company. The job required me to move to San Francisco. So, move I did. It was the first time I had lived more than a couple of hours from where I grew up and I really thought I could do it with no major disruption of my life.
NOT!!Â
I was miserable. Miserable, I tell you. Everything familiar was across the country in Georgia. My family, my boyfriend, my church, my car, my apartment, my kitties, my hair dresser….everything!! I was working all the time…traveling 80% of the time. I was living in an extended stay hotel, so I did not even have a place to call my own. I cried…. A LOT. When I had time I would go down by the San Francisco bay and walk and cry and pray. Nearby there was a small church called Bay Area Baptist Church. One day I was walking by the bay, crying and praying and asking God to take me back home. Did I mention I was miserable? I walked over to the church, thinking, hoping I could go inside and pray, but not having much hope the church would be unlocked. I pulled on the door and it was unlocked.
I peeked inside and did not see anyone. Quietly I walked to the front, nearly fell onto the altar and poured my heart out to the Lord. After several minutes, I heard someone walk in the door. It was a woman and this big, burly, red-headed man in a cowboy hat. They asked me if they could help me and I told them I had just felt the need to come in and pray. They were the nicest people, and after sharing my heart with them, they invited me back to church the next Sunday. I went back that Sunday and worshipped with them.
God showed me through the open door of the church and the friendliness and tenderness of the people that He had not forgotten me. He reminded me that He is the friend who will never leave me, never forsake me. It was truly a light-bulb moment for me to realize that even when I feel totally alone in this world, I really am NOT. God is the friend who is ALWAYS there.
I will always have a tender spot in my heart for that little church sitting on the edge of the San Francisco Bay.
OK, that’s my story. Now, let’s hear yours.Â
