Funtastic Friend Friday: Georgia McCoy

This girl holds a very special and dear place in my heart, one that no one will ever be able to replace. Georgia is a junior at East Chapel Hill High School, where I lead Young Life and she had been one of the biggest blessings during my time of doing ministry in that school. She knows Jesus and she loves Jesus... a lot. I am constantly amazed by her passion for the Lord, His will for her life, and His Word. She seeks to know the Truth in all things and in all circumstances. Georgia has been a huge source of encouragement when Young Life has gotten tough and I begin to forget why I do what I do. She is also one of the most mature high schoolers that I have ever met and she is one of the most fun people to be around. We spend hours at coffee shops together talking about life and the future and all that the Lord is doing. I cannot wait for her senior year and to see where God takes her for college (and for her to be the best YL leader the ministry has ever seen).

I was so excited when Georgia agreed to write a post on my blog for many reasons. One, because she is so important to me and it only seems appropriate that she have her own post on here but two, because I love her perspective and the way that she sees the Lord. She sees the beauty in failure and it something I admire in her so much. My prayer is that you read what she writes and that it resonates with you as well. She may only be seventeen years old, but I assure you, she is one wise girl crazy about Jesus.

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Hope for the Epic Failure

My life is a house of cards. Perfectly balanced. Meticulously put together. It’s an impressive web which perfectly delegates my time to school, food, sleep, clubs, a cappella, Young Life, church, choir, youth group, swimming, friends, family, my dog, working out, babysitting, planning events…you name it, I probably do it.

           

Everything is penciled into my little red calendar. Every moment of every day. And for the most part it works. As long as nothing ever runs over, doesn’t go as planned, takes up more of my time, or changes. As long as I never mess up, get run down, or don’t understand something. As long as I never want to stop and smell the roses or something. The problem with my house of cards life is that even just one tiny disturbance knocks the entire thing down.

           

The only thing left standing is a merciful God waving me over saying, “Hey, I’m still here! I’ve got you and I ain’t going nowhere.”

With every crashing tumble I take, the Lord lays down a new brick on my foundation, so when I fall, I don’t fall quite as far. He is building me a house anchored in His truth and resting on His shoulders.

           

In 2^nd Corinthians Paul talks about his own hardships. He says:

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Over the years God has helped me see His works in me, some have been revealed quickly, some have taken years. Through my pain He has refined me. Through my weakness He has used me. People like to say there is no one too weak to not be used by the Lord. In reality, it should go more like there is no one too prideful or self-obsessed or angry or successful or lost or passive or content or distracted to be out of the reach of the Lord. Only when we step off our pedestals can the Lord step up and use us. 

Look at Peter for example in the book of John. Man was a hot mess. Jesus tells Peter he is going to deny Him three times that night and Peter goes no! I would never! Thought too highly of himself to step aside and simply say “help!” Within just 12 hours of being told this, he denies Jesus three times. He feels crummy but it isn’t until Jesus appears to him on the beach and brings it up does Peter realize how broken he is. What happens next? Jesus builds His church on him!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” –Ephesians 3:20-21

Immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine? Wow. I can think of a lot of stuff…immeasurably more? I’d like to see that and I would imagine so would other people! But until we step aside and rejoice in our weakness, we are too dense. We are too set in our own ways. We think we know what we’re doing. We think, “I’ve got this!” 

What hope we have in the Lord! He set us free. He was tortured and gruesomely nailed to the cross so when we stumble and fall and fail and fall over and have our worlds crumble we can have assurance that we are still precious in His sight. He will not leave us. He has felt alone and broken and because He loves us so, He will never leave. That’s so comforting. Because he makes us strong we can lift others up. Because He is our anchor we can take leaps of faith. We can do the unpopular and different and still know we have the Almighty God on our team, cheering us on.

There's a wreckage, there's a fire

There's a weakness in my love

There's a hunger I can't control

Lord I falter and I fall down

Then I hold on to the chains you broke

When You came down and saved my soul

Save my soul

Hallelujah

We are free to struggle

We're not struggling to be free

Your blood bought and makes us children

So children drop your chains and sing

So I look, do I still fail

Do I withhold, do I still give into temptation

On my own I am bankrupt

I will trust You, I'll take you at your word

You promise

Hallelujah

We are free to struggle

We're not struggling to be free

Your blood bought and makes us children

So children drop your chains and sing

Hallelujah, death is overcome

and we are breathing

Hallelujah our stone hearts become flesh

a flesh that's beating

Hallelujah chains have been undone

and we are singing

Hallelujah the fire has begun

can you feel it?

Hallelujah

We are free to struggle

We're not struggling to be free

Your blood bought and makes us children

So children drop your chains and sing

-Tenth Avenue North