Elsa Kok Colopy is the author of five books and hundreds of articles. The former editor of Thriving Family magazine, Elsa now writes and speaks full-time, traveling around the country leading retreats, seminars and workshops. Elsa has a deep passion for communicating the love of Christ in a compelling and authentic way. She uses story telling and humor to draw people to God’s grace — wrapped in truth, drenched in joy. A single parent for 12 years, she is now remarried. Elsa and her husband, Brian, live in Colorado Springs with their daughter, Sam and their dogs, Simba Roo and Sir Maximus.
Sometimes I looked around and felt discouraged. People who said they believed in God were doing their own thing, writing their own rules and living just like everybody else. Does faith really make a difference? I wondered. Does it really change anything?
I lived in that place of disappointment for a season. What’s the point? No one else is living this. Why should I?
Then I felt like God nudged my heart. I’m the point. Oh, it wasn’t an audible thing, but I felt like he was showing me something very important. Rather than use the bad choices of other people to justify my own sin, why not allow them to stir a passion in me to be different? To be one who really does reflect what faith can do?
God was reminding me to take my eyes off of others and keep them focused on Him. That even if no one else chose to follow His ways, I could. And in that, I would get to show other people the amazing beauty of a God who really does change things and a faith that makes all the difference in the world.
God has a best for you. God has a best for your friends. If they aren’t living it, you live it. You show the world how beautiful God’s love is and how much you trust it by the decisions you make and the actions you take.
You’ll be amazed at what unfolds when you do. Not only will you experience God’s delight and blessing, you’ll also get the chance (over and over again), to respond to people who say, “What is so different about you? How do you do it?” You’ll be able to point them to the One who will gladly do the same thing in their hearts.
May it be so.
For practical tools and inspiring help to live this pure life, even when it feels like you are the only one, check out Pure Love, Pure Life, Exploring God’s Heart on Purity by Elsa Kok Colopy or visit her website at http://www.purelovepurelife.com.