Mentor Girls

The following is a testimony from Corrie, one of my dearly loved “mentor girls” in her own words.

Shelly

My husband’s name is Sean; he will be going on his third deployment to Iraq in June. He loves his job. We’ve been married 5 years and have two little girls, Jenna and Sophie. We have been at Fort Carson almost 4 years. One of the biggest blessings of my time here has been being a part of the mentoring program. I have been meeting with Shelly Volkhardt for about 2 ½ years. One of the biggest things she has taught me is to lower my expectations of my self and of others and to raise my expectations of God. She has never said this to me, word for word, but she has lived it in front of me.

Another life changing Biblical principle that I have learned from her is what I want to share with you. Psalm 50:14 says, “Sacrifice thank offerings to God...” and verse 23 says, “he who sacrifices thank offerings honors me. When I used to read these verses I skipped over the sacrifice and went right to being thankful. Thanking God for who he is and what he has given me. While we should all do this how does that fit in with sacrificing?

A sacrifice is uncomfortable, painful, and messy, what could that have to do with thanking God? What I have come to believe is that by giving up my rights I am offering God a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for what he has done for me, namely for sending his son to die for me so that I can be with him for eternity.

Understanding these verses has changed me. I have the right to be frustrated with my children and no one would deny me the right to be upset when Sean heads back to Iraq. But instead of embracing this right and wallowing in it I can choose to give up my right as a sacrifice to God. Sacrificing my rights or dying to myself is uncomfortable and can be painful. But I don’t do it because it is the good Christian thing to do, I do it because it is one way that I can say thank you to God for the ultimate sacrifice he made for me.