I “accepted Jesus into my heart” while sitting on an ugly couch. I was a little girl with a big realization: this Man-God was real. And I wanted to know Him.
The thing is, it took me a while to learn that handing over one’s left ventricle, really isn’t the same as handing over one’s life.
And so, Jesus and I played tug o’ war for decades.
I grew up in a Christian home, went to Christian school, listened to Christian music, and read Brio. It’s not that I wasn’t willing to give Jesus ample space in my day to day. The problem was I didn’t know He isn’t after space, He’s after change. Turns out, there is a big difference between the two.
The first time Jesus asked something sacrificial of me, I answered with a “Rather not.” I decided it was time to go my own way. I locked myself in my bedroom and played a song so embarrassing it shall not be mentioned here on repeat for hours on end. I laid there in the dark wondering what to do now that I had all this “self” available to me. And this was only the beginning.
For years, he tugged. And I waged war.
Then something happened. Slowly, I stopped making space and started allowing change.
I started saying yes even when I wanted to say no.
And in those hard days of obedience, He changed who I was. He was working up and working out an organic faith in the girl you’d least expect it from.
He’s taught me: organic faith isn’t meant to be exclusive to our hearts – it starts there, sure – but it is meant to branch out throughout our entire person. It is meant to extend itself into our lives, our actions, our dreams, our words, our relationships.
Organic faith thrives in everyday life. It grows under the pressure of bills due and in the pain found when your friends forget and in the beauty of a favorite Beatles’ lyric on the radio.
And that is just what this ministry is about.
It’s about an ancient text come alive in a modern life. It’s a little about you and it’s a little about me but mostly it is all about Him and the change He brings.
So, here, we welcome real, hard life.
Welcome to the Word hungry, the Word interested and even the Word disenchanted.
Welcome to the bored, the captivated, and yes, to the lost.
Welcome, Mistake Maker. Housewife. CEO. Adventurer.
Welcome to a messy faith and the challenge of a lived-out-loud love.
And most of all, welcome to change and to the one Who brings it.
In King Jesus,
Kristen Schiffman
