Mary Liz Hill-- lessons from liesl

Y'all I am so so thrilled that you get to hear from my sweet friend Mary Liz. If you have the pleasure of knowing her, you know that she is always looking for ways to serve other people. Her thirst for the Lord is truly unquenchable. It has been such a blessing to watch her disciple younger girls and seek counsel from those older than her, just as God's Word has instructed. Mary Liz is wise, compassionate, authentic, and on fire for the Lord. We went to lunch the other day and I was so encouraged by everything she was learning. Today on the blog, she's sharing her most recent lesson-- how to walk through trials joyfully, as inspired by the incredible Liesl Langer. Thank you, Mary Liz, for sharing your heart tonight! --Mary Ann

Hey! My name is Mary Liz Hill and I am a rising senior! Mary Ann has had such an impact on my life and her faith truly inspires me! Today I am going to talk about another person’s faith who really inspired me! Recently, I had the opportunity to go to First Baptist Montgomery’s youth camp for three days which was such a blessing and surprise in the midst and chaos of corona.

On the last day, our youth pastor face-timed one of the students who was not able to attend named Liesl so that we could all see her. Liesl has been battling cancer for the past year, and I had heard about her before but I had never met her. I’m sure she had no idea the impact she was having on me and others as she just gave a small little impromptu speech on face-time to the youth!

One thing I loved about her was that she just had her heart open to speak and trusted the Lord instead of being concerned about how many people were watching or if she was good enough or qualified. She just let the Lord speak. I think this is really a testament to us and especially to myself as I often worry about people watching and what they will think, and I let fear take over myself instead of remembering who’s I am and who I am not because of myself but in Him. We have to ask ourselves, "what is truly more important: God’s glory or the mere fickle opinions of people around us?" People change and friends may come and go, but God’s love for us never changes and is eternal. We must let His love lead us to overcoming the fear and ask Him to open our eyes to see that what others think does not matter in the grand scheme of things. Also remembering that the people who don’t listen or understand you speaking about the Lord are not the people that you want to be close to you anyway. There were many things that she said that really blew my mind and here are a few:

We will face hard things, but they're worth it

First, on face-time, she was telling us of the radiation procedure she had for that day and how it would be tough. The Lord really moved my heart hearing the authentic faith she had as she was saying it’s been a hard journey but the Lord just really has poured so many blessings out on her life as she has met so many amazing people and been able to spend more time with her family. It has really given her a heart of gratitude during this hard time. Instead of complaining, she was just explaining the Lords faithfulness to her, and she just had such a joy and peace about her that we know could only come from God.

Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

I really love this verse because it says as Christians we have hope during the hard times because God really does use the hard times to pour in other blessings we couldn’t imagine before and teach us new things that could only come through being at that point. She was able to grow closer to Him, grow as a person, and spend more time with her family.

1 Corinthians 2:9 explains how she maintains such a positive attitude.

1 Corinthians 2:9 “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived are the things God has prepared for those who love Him.”

She told us that even through all the hardship, she wouldn’t go back and take this away from happening to her. This is such a testament to the goodness of the Lord and the strength of her faith, as cancer is not easy. She has experienced so much growth and many blessings although it must have been hard to hear the news and to still go through all the treatments and not be healed, yet she continues to trust God not knowing what will happen next. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” Our sufferings can not only help us grow as a person but we can also help other people in theirs. Your present sufferings help you relate to others and give you the ability to help them when they go through the same or similar things because you really can’t understand what others are going through unless you’ve been through it yourself. The Lord charges us to find joy in hardships.

James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Liesl definitely has the attitude that God is growing her as a person and has a perfect plan for her life even during this hard time which really blew my mind since sometimes I have a hard time trusting God in small things and do not always have a heart of gratitude.

we feel like trusting God looks differently than it appears

We often fall under the false assumption that we should just trust Him to keep us from hard times, and we are blindsided when something bad happens. We wonder how He could let us go through it, but in reality, real trust is trusting His plan and allowing Him to be there for us during the hard times. We must trust that it’s for the good of His plan even when everything is falling apart and we don’t have an idea how it could work together for good. Romans 8:28 says “ 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.” This verse is spoken a lot and honestly very hard to believe sometimes, but it really is very true and one of the core things you must believe in your faith. God really does have the best plan in mind for us and can see the big picture while we can only see the small. Therefore, we must humble ourselves down to saying we don’t understand but trust him when the hard times come. The only way to truly believe it is to truly ask God to help you trust Him and give you supernatural peace because we can’t get through it on our own, and we weren’t made to do this life alone.

no trial or struggle that you are going through is too small whether it’s cancer, depression, not getting along with a parent, the ACT, or whatever you’re struggle is

There truly is nothing too small for God, and your struggles are real, they are significant, and they matter to God. A lot of times we hear the big things others are going through and feel like God is too busy and too big of a God to deal with our small needs, but He wants more than anything for us to come to Him and ask for help. He loves us so much, it brings Him so much joy when you come to Him, and let Him take care of you and comfort you. He is your father, your daddy. Nothing is too small for Him.

One thing that I’ve always struggled with in my life is fear and fear of what others think of me. I have allowed the fear to hold me back from things many times in my life. The way the Liesl had nothing prepared but was just willing to let the Lord speak through her to a full room of high school students her age on on a big screen, be vulnerable, and talk about her struggles really hit me hard. Her faith inspired me more than I have ever been, and she probably had no idea that her small answer to a question on face-time impacted me so much. This just goes to show— your faith can inspire people. People are able to see the faith and trust you have in the Lord even when you are unaware, and it may inspire them when you have no idea that they are watching or notice. I have heard many friends tell stories of other people that they watched go through a trial and their friends’ strong faith alone really impacted their life.

Also, many times I struggle with feeling that I am not enough or qualified and that I’m making an impact, but it is not you that are qualified it is the Holy Spirit inside you that qualifies you. If He asks you to do something, He will help you do it because we can’t do it alone. Many times the Lord may lead you to do things that you may never know the impact you have on someone else’s life just by living out your faith. Liesl didn’t do anything special specifically for me but just made an impact by living out her faith and listening to Gods call unafraid. However, you don’t have to speak to a big group of students. A kind word, caring for someone, or just being there for someone when they’re hurting and showing that you care could really mean the world to someone. In the end, everyone is just longing to be accepted by others and feel loved as God made us for relationships.

During the week, another guy’s mom found out that her cancer came back again, but He was saying how the Lord really made that week fun for him even in the midst of tragedy. He said that others just being there for him meant more to him than anyone could imagine. I really encourage you this week to encourage someone, compliment someone, send a text, and let them know you care for them. You really never know what anyone is going through or how much a kind word could mean to someone. You will never regret being kind, and your efforts will not go to waste. Again, you may not ever know how much you impacted someone so keep reaching out, keep loving others even when it’s hard because Gods love for you is unconditional. He loved you and died to save you before you chose Him.

Romans 5:10 “For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

Let the free life He has given you be worth something! Don’t let fear hold you back from His free gift to share in the joy of loving others! You have been freed from the bondage of sin!