Marshmallows are soft, fluffy and white. Super sweet, pure sugar, a marshmallow is like heaven in your mouth. But what is the one thing that makes marshmallows 10 times better? Roasting them over a warm campfire. The heat melts the insides and toasts the outsides, making a gooey, crispy, warm, sweet, messy, perfect treat. Marshmallows can be cooked to different degrees of toastiness and gooeyness, depending on how close to the flame it is held and how long it is held there. But it is inevitable that if you put the marshmallow on the fire, its form will change.
The change of a Christian is much the same. When a person is thrust into God’s love and grace, they can’t help but change. The degrees of their change can depend on how deep they delve into their relationship with God and how much they allow themselves to be changed, but it is inevitable that once a person has been touched by the love of God, they will be changed in some way. I want to tell the story of my change.
From the time I was very young, I struggled with lying. Most of the time, I didn’t even have a reason to lie, I just did. As I got older, the lying got worse and worse, and my parents knew they could not trust me. It got to the point that even when I was telling the truth my parents didn’t believe me because I had lied so much. Despite the fact that I grew up in a Christian home, going to church every Sunday, I was separating myself farther and farther from God. I hated the person I was. I had an immense amount of insecurities. I felt ugly, obnoxious and dishonest, and when I was 14, I realized I was depressed. The next spring I was invited to join a youth group. I did, and my life slowly started changing. I started allowing myself to see how God can move and love, and began to allow myself to be changed by it. But, I was only letting myself be touched by the very edges of the flames instead of by the entire fire. Still, this little bit of leeway allowed God to really start moving in my life so I could see how a true relationship with him is supposed to be.
The next summer, God brought me the best friend of my life. Chris, an acquaintance from my hometown, had just moved a couple states away. He hadn’t made any new friends up there yet, and most of his friends back home had schedules that clashed with his so they couldn’t talk, or they just stopped talking to him. He and I began talking then, more and more, so that within weeks we were talking every day. Within months we were best friends. But here’s the thing about Christopher. When you meet him, his love for God is one of the first things you notice, even if you don’t recognize that’s what it is. He is a vibrant, radiant person who cares for everyone he meets. As we were talking and getting to know each other, I began to see the dynamics of a real relationship with God in him. And God began to teach me my true identity in Christ through Chris. He taught me that the sins I struggled with are not who I am. Chris used logic on me such as, “If God created you in His image, and God is beautiful, then you are beautiful.” I learned that God created me with my outgoing, loud personality for a reason.
As I learned who I truly am as God’s child, I learned how to fight the temptations of lying, and the other things that would try to tempt me. I learned to listen to the voice of God. I learned to make the right decisions in the hardest moments. I learned the meaning of humility, honesty, modesty, inner beauty, and I learned to rely on God’s strength instead of my own. No longer am I a liar. No longer do I see myself as ugly, inside or out. No longer do I hate my laugh or my loud voice. No longer am I afraid to be my true self around people. And because of this, because of my newfound strength, confidence and beauty in Christ, I am able to tell my story and shine Christ’s love and light to others who need it. I have immersed myself into the deepest, hottest part of God’s love, and I am a completely changed marshmallow of the gooiest kind.
