Media Matters: Part 2
If you haven’t read my last article on media matters, please click here to go back to Part 1! To recap, I wanted to discuss with y’all why the internet is important and can equally be used for good and bad. My story is a testimony to that and I want to continue that journey with you…
Picking up from where I left off, I hopped into a car and drove all the way from Milwaukee to St. Louis to meet this stranger off the internet. In case you were wondering, that girl was named Yelena. She is the original founder of Tirzah and I consider her a friend - to this day. One of us should have done a background check on the other! You would think that a lawyer and a social worker would have thought about that one:)
But, we didn’t and that was because we both know Jesus and I truly believe He knit our relationship together and prepared us in advance for good works - both together and separately. The day I arrived in St. Louis, my own home where I was raised, to meet Yelena, I gained an instant friend. We had such similar stories and interests.
She shared her story (you can read more here) and I shared mine. We both grew up in the church with good families and cultures not our own. She came from Ukraine to Missouri and I came from the Appalachian mountains to the inner city. Absolutely nothing in common in regards to culture, but our church cultures were similar. We both felt a little different because we had always been told specific things about women and their roles. Yelena and I weren’t afraid to discuss our disagreement that women shouldn’t be educated or should consider our main duty in life to be a wife. We also weren’t afraid to discuss that we disliked feminism - the idea that women only needed careers and should put down men.
It left Yelena and I in a box that we fit in together. I made a friend who LOVED learning and what she did just as much as I did. We “climbed the ladders” of our careers together - without compromising our beliefs. Yelena and I discovered that, despite church culture, our families had still encouraged us to pursue the intellectual minds and desires that God had given us. We both had fathers and mothers who supported our dreams. It was fun to have a friend who got along with and supported their sibling as well.
That weekend discussing how different and similar we were to each other bonded us closer to God and to each other. I’ve always said I had a “Holy Spirit” type relationship with Yelena - bonded together like David and Jonathan. That weekend Yelena accepted my help with the ministry even more. We became almost equal partners together in ministry. Throughout the years, there has never been a time where our relationship felt strained or like it had to be different than it was.
The beauty of this online relationship is I found someone to reach other young women and teach everything we knew about the Bible. I was able to be my fully introverted self and we saw each other when we saw each other. Yelena and I have a complete trust and bond that was built by God - and not man. So, we’ve only seen each other in person around 4 times and don’t even communicate that much. But, when God is at the center of what you’re doing, He brings you together at the right times.
It’s the same way with the internet. It’s the tool that brought us together for God’s Kingdom and gave us a unique friendship. Without the use of technology, would Yelena and I have ever met? Would Tirzah have existed? Who would I be? My identity is firmly bound in Christ, but I do know Yelena and other ladies from Tirzah helped me stand firm for Christ in so many seasons of life.
However, next month I would like to take you back a step and show how there’s always the mistake or learning curve before understanding. Tirzah was not my first blogging experience and I’ve actually been involved in online communities since the age of 16. Stay tuned to learn how God can turn around your bad decisions with technology, or any area of your life, for the good…
Comment below how technology has improved your relationship with God - if you have a story. We’d love to hear!