This is part IV of a series that takes Andy Stanley’s sermons from Sunday to every day.  If you missed part I, just  click here  to catch up. If you missed part II, click here. Part III, click here.

Here is a quick catch up:

February 2009 : I recognize that I have not been living up to the standard that I had been called.  I write a sincere plea for God to direct me where I need to be
April 2009 : I start to admit that I have a larger role to play in my discontent than I originally thought.  I realize that I cannot blame my way into a better future and start to question exactly what I am doing and who I have become.

Early June 2009:  I break up with my long time boyfriend
August 2009: Steven and I begin exclusively dating; I begin a small group with five wonderful women who would help to refine my faith.
September 2009: I lose my job and move in with Ashley; she becomes much more than a friend.  She becomes family.
October 2009: I write this journal entry and attempt to release the hurt and pain from my current circumstances.  I acknowledge that God is powerfully at work in my life, despite less than ideal financial circumstances.

“It is perfectly normal to feel like you have to go to the bathroom…but you don’t.” My sweet photographer Allie whispered.

It was like she was a Jedi.  The only thing running through my thoughts at the moment was disbelief that at, quite possibly, the most important moment of my life, I could only think of the bathroom.  My thoughts returned to the joy that I was about to walk toward my future.  I had only five minutes, but I felt like I lived an entire lifetime in those last few moments as Bekah Twiss.

In November of 2009, I was working at my part time job as an assistant swim coach at Stingrays, my old year-round team.  A little girl walked in completely frazzled as her language arts teacher had given her so much homework that she did not understand.  I took a moment to pull her aside and allowed the other assistants to continue coaching as I helped her through her work.  Then it hit me.  I wanted to do nothing else.  The only thing I wanted to do was to help students through their struggles and attempt to marry it with my talents.

God has an uncanny ability to reveal our greatest callings in the most mundane situations.

I registered for pre-requisite courses for a MAT program a few weeks later.  A few months after that, I began my journey to become a high school English teacher.

I began my graduate program in May 2010.

As I continued to pour through the word, God revealed that I must not hide behind grace any longer.  I felt a strong sense of urgency to go public with my faith and declare my total dependence on him through baptism.  October 31, 2010, I was baptized at Buckhead Church.  Before walking into the service, I heard the song “Divine Romance,” and was completely aware that my relationship with Christ was the most incredibly fulfilling relationship I had ever invested in.  My total reliance on Christ had given me total peace in my life, despite any struggle that came my way.  Below is the video of my baptism:

Bekah Twiss from buckheadchurch on Vimeo.

By May 29, 2011, just two years after crying behind a dumpster and finally taking action with my life, rather than blaming my frustrations on other people, I was about to walk toward the most wonderful man I had ever known and pledge my life to him.  I recognized that without my total surrender, I would have forever been crying behind that dumpster.  Without owning my part in my past, re-thinking my role in my present, and releasing my past in hopes for the future, I would have never seen Christ’s love play out in my life.

May 29, 2011

And so, I walked down the aisle to the lyrics of Phil Wickham’s “Divine Romance.” I recognized my marriage was much more than my love for my groom; it was the realization of answered prayers and the promise that my life would be much more than my selfish desires.  It would be a continuation of God’s perfect plan in my life.  This, in all of its beauty, was God’s Divine Romance.