"That got me thinking…"

“Dear Jenny, just a thought, but what if you spent some of the time talking to God that you spend writing to me about boys in your class?”

Those words, penned by my camp-counselor-turned-pen-pal, set me on a course of talking with God that has spanned my life to this point. As I grew to trust and to know Him more, others pitched in along the way.

From the beginning, my mom and dad sacrificed for me to attend Catholic school, and my grandparents sat with me every week at church. In high school, I began to wonder if God was listening. Mrs. Ehlers, who always hugged me and fed me and let me sleep over, piped up: “Even when it seems like he isn’t, he is.” In college, I thought I knew it all; but Amy, my Campus Crusade discipler, was a patient reminder of God’s kindness, not his judgment. Later, when the monotony and sleep deprivation of early motherhood threatened the end of my spiritual life, my friend and spiritual director, Sue, listened to me and rooted me in God’s love and care.

Now that my daughter is thirteen, I hear quite a bit about the boys in her class. I wonder at times if my encouragement to talk to God falls on deaf ears. I have only to look back at my own life to know: there will be others who will pitch in and point her toward God. At the same time, I trust there are some who will look back at their life and include me in their list of those who pitched in.

Jennifer Drummond currently serves in the Housing Office at Gordon-Conwell’s Hamilton campus. She has worked in three other offices at Gordon-Conwell over the past sixteen years. She lives in Asbury Grove, where she blogs, photographs nature, and generally enjoys life with one husband, two middle schoolers, and a puppy.

Jennifer has joined the Discipleship Initiative in providing one-on-one discipleship to students at our Hamilton campus.

This was originally posted on the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s blog for the Discipleship Initiative on October 1, 2018