An Ember

Betty Spengler lives in Severn, Maryland and attends Severna Park United Methodist Church. She is the mother to two adult children and loves spending time with her two grandsons.

Throughout elementary school I was that kid…the one who got chosen last for Red Rover and kickball, didn’t get invited to sleepovers …the pudgy one. By the time Junior High (as it was called back in the day) rolled around I pretty much existed in a self imposed social exile and couldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to be my friend.

I can’t exactly remember why I decided to check out the United Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF) meeting at my church. I had grown up attending church and Sunday school and went through Confirmation and it might have been a requirement to attend a meeting. However it happened, I know God led me there. I do remember how hard it was to show up and that I actually told the kids I met there that it was fine if they didn’t want to talk to me. Fortunately the adult leaders would have none of my negativity and the youth minister noticed me. His name was Mark Derby. A week or two after I started showing up on Sunday nights Mark said he wanted to talk to me. He picked me up after school one day and took me to his church office so we could chat.

That visit turned into many. We would talk. We would talk about me. We talked about what I liked and how I felt. As the oldest of four children in a household with working parents talking about me and my feelings wasn’t something that had happened often. As I remember, Mark and I didn’t talk specifically about God a lot - just “stuff”. I kept attending MYF and the leaders slowly integrated me into the group. Soon something wonderful happened. I felt like I belonged! My life started changing! I was roller skating with my MYF friends on Sunday afternoons and hanging out with them on Saturday night! God was working in my life!

I didn’t have a “hit me over the head” moment when I realized the awesome power of God was changing my life. It started as an ember. It was fanned by adults who cared and at youth group meetings and on weekend retreats. God made his love and power known to me in the quiet moments. One moment I specifically remember is sitting by a fire late into the night on a fall retreat talking to someone I didn’t really get along with very well. During that talk we discussed God’s amazing love for us and talked about forgiveness. By the glow of dying embers we hugged goodnight and headed off to our tents. We awoke the next morning to a beautiful and completely unexpected snowfall. I felt God there showing me that everything was white and clean. Just like he wipes away our sins and cleanses us.

There was no specific conversion moment for me. It started as an ember and grew and soon I was ready to help others know God too. My faith story reminds me of the song ‘Pass it On’, one of my MYF favorites. I have experienced the love of our marvelous God and I do want to pass it on.

It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;
That's how it is with God's Love, Once you've experienced it,
You spread the love to everyone
You want to pass it on.