That day, it was just me and my mom on a bike ride. We do that a lot. It's a chance for us to be vulnerable with each other; to share things we wouldn't normally share. We were just biking along, exploring our new neighborhood. We had just moved in a few weeks before in August, and there was literally no one outside. I'd been having trouble finding friends. As we were biking, we saw this girl walking home from school (that was our strategy for finding people: just go when the school buses go). "Go talk to her!" my mom said. She's always been the go-getter type, so this was totally normal. "Okay, mom. Don't wait for me, I'll catch up." And I turned my bike around and caught up with her. To be honest, I felt like a total creeper. I came up behind her (what if she hates me?), hopped off my bike (what if she doesn't want company?), and said "Hi!" And she said, "Hi! I'm Maya*!" That's literally all it takes to start a friendship.
As I walked home with her, I began to realize that this girl was unlike anyone I've ever met. She was the stereotypical 'bad girl', and I was the stereotypical 'good girl'. She had even been to Juvie. While she smoked, I made straight A's. While she cursed, I kindly expressed myself. I went to church every Sunday, she. . .well, she wasn't an atheist, but she wasn't a Christian either. She knew God was real, but believed that He hated her because she'd gotten in with the 'wrong' crowd. Her life was so different from mine; after all, how do you get in with the wrong crowd as a homeschooler? Even so, I had my first friend. I wanted so badly to share God with her.
Over the next days and weeks, I met up with her at her bus stop almost every day at 3:45 P.M. We talked about school, life, and anything else that came to mind. I noticed that she tried no to vape around me, and the gesture was much appreciated. We spent our time together one day talking about strategies to help her stop vaping. After that, school got very stressful for me, and I didn't see Maya again for about a month.
Then, one day, I had a free moment, and I went down to Maya's bus stop. "Guess what?" she said. "I quit vaping!" I laughed out loud, bubbling over with joy for her. "I went from letting myself do 5 hits an hour, then 4, then 3, and when I got to 1, I realized 'this isn't really something I want anymore.'" Maya told me. "Wow Maya, I'm so happy for you." She sighed. "It's like, without all that stuff in my lungs, I can breathe deeper now." "And I got an 85 for my math grade!" I could see clearly that my prayers for her had gone through.
Maya still isn't perfect. A cuss word slips out every now and then, and sometimes she admits that she did something bad during school. But right now and always, it's not my job to reprimand her. My job is simply to be a trustworthy, loyal friend to her. My job is to let God shine through. My job is to be there for Maya, to never give up on her, and to be the voice of God in her life.
This is for you, Maya. This is for everyone who has done something so bad, they believe God hates them. He doesn't! In fact, the love of God is talked about all through the Bible.
Romans 5:8
But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:39
Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 3:19
And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
*names are changed to protect privacy*
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