Stripping Away the Old

Cameron,
I have been thinking about something sort of heavy, and sometimes the best way I process things is to write them down. So let's just talk this one out, okay?

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I started to sit down in the afternoon and just read and maybe take a nap. Your daddy was grading papers and you were down for a nap. I was looking forward to relaxing, but your daddy reminded me of a project that I have been wanting to tackle for a while and just keep putting off. I have this beautiful buffet cabinet that sits in the dining room. When I bought it about 5 years ago, it had been refinished in a brick red paint. We used it for a dresser for a while, but when we moved to this house, I wanted it to be repainted to match the bright green chairs that I painted for the small table. Plus, it will totally make the green "pop" in the photograph that hangs over its spot.

So your daddy reminded me that I should not waste this free time and that I should get busy on it. But once I got started, I realized it was no small task. To truly do a good job painting, I had to sand off all the old paint to get down to the natural wood underneath. It was messy and tiring and did not go quickly. We eventually moved on to using a chemical stripper, but that still required scraping and two coats and more sanding at the end.

It reminded me of a new friend that I made this past week. I have been learning alot about the Mormon faith lately and am attending trainings once a week now for the trip to Utah in June. It is really giving me a heart for Mormon people that are pushed to be perfect, obey but not think critically, and constantly work for their forgiveness and salvation rather than rely on Jesus and grace. On Thursday, I met a woman who I will just call T. She came to our meeting and told us she is currently a member of the Mormon church, and a pretty darn perfect one at that. Both hers and her husband's parents are active Mormons, she went to BYU, was married in the temple (sealed for all eternity...) and her husband did a 2 yr. mission. But this past January, she realized that she didn't have a testimony that the Mormon faith was true and she started to ask questions. And that is never good. She was rebuked and told to stop asking questions. She researched the beginnings of the Mormon church and was shocked to find out unsettling truths about Joseph Smith. She began to realize that her entire religious life was based on lies and misleadings.

She inspired me with her bravery to not just accept things that people were telling her, but to seek out the truth for herself. She may be confused for a little while, but she wants to know Jesus and the Bible for herself. She wants to understand what God's word, and not Joseph Smith's, says about salvation and forgiveness. I told her when we met for the first time that she is the reason I am going on the trip - to meet and pray for women that are stuck in a lifestyle where they are told to follow blindly and work constantly to earn their way to their own planet so that they and their husband can become gods. Totally 100% serious on that.

And as I was working on that piece of furniture, I realized that T is taking on the same sort of endeavor. My furniture was working just fine and some people might have thought it was best to just leave it alone. Besides, it was way too messy to start taking it all apart and changing things up. But I knew what I wanted and just couldn't settle for something else.

T might think that the more she digs down to find answers, the messier things get. She might even wish that she had never opened this can of worms, but she will know that she can't leave things half done. To help the new color stick, she has to strip away all of the old. She has to understand all the lies that she has been told so that she can make way for the truth to sink in. It will not be a fast process. But the finished product will be beautiful and one-of-a-kind.

I pray that both she and I will have determination to see things through to the end. I know my task in painting is insignificant, but the journey I am on to learn and understand how to minister to those in the Mormon faith will last long after I am home from the Miracle Pageant in June. I can't wait to see T again since she seems so eager to learn about Christianity and the Bible. Pray that she will be strong in the face of resistance from her friends and family, that she will know Jesus is the only truth for her.

I am so thankful to be part of a church that encourages me to study, to learn, to discuss and to share my knowledge. I am even more thankful for Evidence Ministries, that they can guide me through this process and serve as loving examples to me. Someday, I hope you will see the wonder of the Bible for yourself and love it the way I do. Not because I tell you to or pressure you, but because you are your own person with a wonderful inquisitive mind.

Praying for you and for T,
Mama