Growth Continues

So I said that I was going to come home today and get my Apologetics assignment done. I've been home for a whole hour and haven't even looked at anything related to my homework. I did have the opportunity to read one of my cousin's homework assignments though. (At least one of us is getting homework done. =]) 
In the assignment, my cousin was able to do a type of interview with my grandfather, basically as a retrospecitve look at his life: the highs and lows, the things he's proud of and the things/people that had the most impact and influence on him. As I read my grandfather's honest answers, I was reminded of the difference one life can make. 
Grandpa spoke of five different people who had a significant impact on him, one of them being his wife. He and gram were given the responsibility to influence the lives of their four children, and those four children went on to give them eleven grandchildren, whom they have had a significant influence on as well. My point is that just looking at immediate family relationships, nothing else, my grandfather has already molded and helped shape the lives of 16+ people. And each of those lives have continued to impact others within their sphere of influence as well. 

Yesterday, my roommate and I went to Taiwan to visit a friend for a few hours. We had lunch and rode mopeds around for a while. And I remember thinking that both of these wonderful ladies have been such a source of joy in my life. When I got home, my roommates and I had a wonderful heart-to-heart about the challenges we're facing right now followed by a beautiful time of prayer for each other. 

I am convinced that convenience is, more often than not, actually Providence. Every person who has ever walked into my life has taught me a lesson (some that I perhaps shouldn't have had to learn, but learn them I did) - even those who didn't mean well or failed to recognize their impact on the lives of others. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." (Rom 8:28) Through the good, the bad, the ill-conceived and the negligent, God has the sovereign ability to use it all for growth, intimacy and ultimately love. Nothing is outside of His hands that He cannot control. A passage that has been coming to my attention a lot lately is Phil 1:6, "being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you, will be faithful to continue it until the day of Jesus Christ." 

I am so thankful for the influence that my grandparents love has had on me. They continue to leave a mark on my heart to this very day. I am thankful for their faithfulness to give the best they knew how to give and for the way that they continue to grow. I am thankful for random strangers who become family; for friends who hold me accountable, and for Love that guides us to continue growing no matter what the circumstance.