Every Tuesday we will be featuring a different girl sharing HerStory… a brief testimony or reflection on her relationship with the Lord. It’s an awesome way to see God at work in each other’s lives! Here’s our debut!
Melissa Marie Martin
That name is the name that now appears on documents like my voter’s ballot. It’s the name on my driver’s license, my jury duty summons, and all kinds of official old people papers. But it is funny to think that it’s the same one I used to write in crayon on my self-portraits in kindergarten. It’s my birthday this week, and I will have carried that name with me for 20 years. But even though my name is the same, who I am underneath is so different from who I was back then.
Obviously I’m not a three foot tall kindergartener running around the playground pretending to be Sailor Moon anymore. I’ve grown up and become a woman and all that. I’ve spent two years in college and been through 20 years worth of life experiences that have all shaped the girl behind the name. But the biggest changes have definitely been in the past three years.
In the past three years I have:
· Gotten to know and understand who Jesus is and what He’s done for me.
· Been humbled by the fact that I don’t have, and never will have all the answers.
· Been blessed (spoiled, really) with an awesome family, lifelong friends, a stellar education, perfectly fitting job opportunities, and countless amazing memories.
· Finally put to rest the notion that God works like a genie. Or a math problem. Or anything else we think we can figure out.
· Fought some battles that I never thought I’d have the strength for.
· Solidified my faith through the truth in God’s Word.
· Coined the terms “heaven homesickness” and “soul crush” (ask me).
· Broken free from some pretty heavy chains and let go of a lot of things God has asked me to give up to Him.
· Accepted my identity as a new creation.
That last one is huge. In the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” there’s a line from the song “Not for the Life of Me” where the main character (Millie, of course) sings “Don’t you know that where I am ain’t where I was?” I saw this play two weeks ago and that line was such a slap in the face! I don’t know if a lot of other Christians feel this way but sometimes I get so caught up in my “testimony” or my life before Christ that I forget the fact that I’m a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). That girl from the past isn’t me anymore! I’m not defined by her. Yes it’s important to know that girl and to learn from her mistakes and love her all the same. But though I might still struggle with things that I used to struggle with, don’t you know that where I am ain’t where I was? I’ve got the Holy Spirit within me and that frees me from the chains and demons of yesterday. Pretty awesome.
God’s been showing me a mirror that’s different than the one I look at when I wake up in the morning. He’s showing me the being that I am in His eyes. The woman who is empowered by Christ to conquer sin. The girl who is free to dream and delight and be herself. And THAT girl is Melissa Marie Martin. 🙂
Melissa is Co-Director of Wonderfully Made @ Santa Clara University for the upcoming school year.