May 8, 2000
People need romance with God, singles told
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___RICHARDSON--People hunger for a love that will not let go, and they often spend their lives seeking in other relationships what only God can provide, Paula D'Arcy told a group of Texas Baptist single adults.
___"God is the only one who can say, 'I will never leave you,'" said D'Arcy, author of "Gift of the Red Bird" and "Song for Sarah."
___She was keynote speaker at the statewide Single Adult Conference, April 28-29 at First Baptist Church of Richardson.
___The conference was sponsored by the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.
___Human beings are "hard-wired" for a "romance with God," she said.
___Often the moment of revelation comes when they are broken and helpless, she noted. Only then do they recognize the "lover God" who has been pursuing them.
___For D'Arcy, that point was reached in the summer of 1975 when a drunk driver collided head-on with her family's car, killing both her husband and daughter. She was three months pregnant with her second daughter at the time.
___"I had death all around me, life growing inside me, and I had a lot to figure out," she recounted.
___"At that point, God began to dance with me. In that murky period, I realized I knew about God, but I didn't know God. The container of an intellectual faith won't hold life's mysteries."
___D'Arcy realized then that Christ had been working throughout her life, seeking a relationship with her, but she had not recognized him.
___"It's a story of God loving me through the darkness and walking me through it to the place of sight," she said.
___D'Arcy challenged the single adults not to allow themselves to be defined by their circumstances.
___Circumstances do not define people, she said. Rather, the defining moment is when a person chooses how to respond to circumstances.
___"It is the 'moment after' that has the power," she said.
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