Thirty-Seven

It’s almost my birthday! In an hour I’ll be 37 years young LOL!

Seven has actually always been my favourite number from a young girl, because of the seven days in our creation story, and the seventh day being Sunday…church!

I loved church as a girl and still do today…I loved everything about it even though I didn’t really go for very long due to family reasons…but now as I reflect upon my calling to ministry within the church, I smile as it all makes sense.

So 37…it’s got me thinking about my life at aged seven, seventeen, twenty-seven and thrity-seven…

Here is some of my journey…

I was born in 1977…In Geelong, Victoria, Australia…a true ‘Aussie’ of mixed white heritage.  For the first seven years of my life, my family and I moved around a lot, but by age seven we were settled in a lovely timber home my dad had built in rural Victoria, in a very small town called Merino.

Aged 7 ~ At age seven I was a simple girl…shy and timid, I had an older sister (seven years older actually) to whom I was a pain, meddling with all of her things, an older brother (four years older) who hung out with my sister and a six month old baby brother.  Little did I know…but my life was about to change as I was to meet Jesus.  It wouldn’t be long till my mother’s older brother was to visit our country family, to share with us his personal testimony of being born-again…and WOW what a testimony it was to be.  My uncle seriously had been a major mess for his early adult life…he was married, but an abusive alcoholic.  When he came and shared his story with my mum and dad it seriously impacted our whole family, so much so that we began to go to church and I, along with my older sister and brother were baptised.  My beloved uncle remained a committed Christian for the rest of his life and was overjoyed, years later when I recommitted my life.

Aged 17 ~ Fast forward a decade…it’s incredible how much can change in only 10 years!  My mum and dad had divorced (when I was eleven) which coincided with me beginning dance lessons. But by 17, I danced professionally and had begun teaching. I lived in the city and was finishing high school.  I also met my ex-husband when I was 17, on Good Sunday at a rock concert in Melbourne!  I still believed in Jesus but my lifestyle did not match…I was in rebellion…but had no-one in my life to offer any alternative.  Little did I know…but I was about to enter a decade of turmoil.

Aged 27 ~ At this age I had been blessed to become a mother to two sons and was pregnant with my third.  I had worked as a professional dance teacher for the past decade and this still was my business – on the outside I think I would have seemed fine…as if I had finally settled down into a pleasant life, once again living in the country.  But this truly wasn’t the case, my ex-husband and I had gone through a decade of utter awfulness and we still would have awful fights…I was a nervous wreck at home where people didn’t see, suffering terribly with anxiety.  Little did I know that God in His great mercy was soon about to reach me, the very next year.

Age 37 ~ Now here I am today and the past decade has been the best of my life.  No it has not been easy, but I finally feel I am the woman God created me to be and I have peace knowing that I am again safe with Him – like I was as a girl.  The past decade has seen me born-again, begin bible college, actually have a decent marriage for seven years with respect, until he walked away not being able to accept Christ (not that I pushed him). God willing it won't be long and I'll be finished my Bachelor of Ministry and I am eager for what the next decade will bring...which I believe will be much more ministry in the church, God willing.

It’s funny how God works because after I had given my life to Christ, I wrote a message in a Christmas card to two (by this time elderly) gentlemen (brothers), whom my family had loved dearly when we went to church in Merino.  I wanted to share with them my good news, as I knew they were genuine committed Christians.  I received a letter back from one brother Ralph, before he passed on, and he told me of how just before my card arrived in the mail, of how him and his brother Larry had been talking recently and in conversation remembered me as a girl, and of how I had helped at church!  How interesting…and here I am today still serving in church...God is awesome!

Hope this simple reflection blesses you in some way…

Cheers, God bless you, and praise God for my 37^th birthday, Melanie :)