So at this point, you may be like, "Lauren and Ariel, why are y'all trying to push us closer to God? Why do I need to have a relationship with Him anyway?"
Before we dive in too deep, I wanna give you a disclaimer: you gotta feel and experience God for Who He is yourself; it's not something I can make you feel. Once you accept Christ as your Savior (yes, that part is mandatory), you begin to develop a relationship with God. That's when you feel it. Okay, cool. Now that that's established, let's go back to the "why God is so freakin dope" part. It's impossible to put God in these little categories of Who He is, but there are a few main points I wanna hit on here: 1. God is love 2. God is a God of promises 3. God is all-powerful When Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden of Eden (and don't blame it all on Eve - Adam was right there listening to the serpent, too), the FIRST thing God did was come through the garden looking for them and say, "Where are you?" God loves us SO MUCH, His first inclination when we sin is not to say, "Ya don' messed up, Lauren," but instead it's to say, "Where are you?" Did you know God is pursuing you? Do you realize God is patiently waiting for you to accept Christ in your heart and assume your natural role as a child of the Most High God? "Lauren, to be honest, I think I'm doing just fine without getting anything from a relationship with God." Let me break this down for you: you already receive from God whether you thank Him for it or not. Every good and perfect gift is from God (James 1:17). Let me say that again... EVERY good and perfect gift is from God. You over here thanking the universe and good luck for the great things you've gotten in this life... Do you really think they were just plopped down on you by chance? Nah. God's love for you is SO GREAT, He blesses you even when you don't want to acknowledge Him. A lot of people have grown up with this perspective that God is this authoritarian, punishing being. That all God does is smite you when you've done wrong. (If you want a deeper analysis of Who God is, I HIGHLY recommend reading The God-Shaped Brain by Timothy Jennings. It changed my life. You can borrow my copy.) That's not the case. Let's back up here. Remember when I told you God is love? That all He wants is a relationship with you, His child? That's Who God is. Perhaps the most popular verse ever is John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life." It's a great verse. But people often don't understand its true value. The world was a terrible place before Jesus came. Like perhaps even worse than it is now (hard to imagine). God had already done the flood thing with Noah building the ark to try to restore some good in the world. But, of course, we as humans are inclined to sin. We are born sinners. We have to accept Jesus in our hearts to truly be set free from sin. When Jesus was born to descendants of Jews AND Gentiles (that's important because He is the God of not just Jews but non-Jews as well), He was born into this world to be of both flesh (that stuff that makes you wanna sin) and of the Spirit (God-like). I'll delve more into Jesus later (He deserves His own post), but the cool thing here is that God planned this all out VERY precisely. What other God gives you a Savior you can relate to so well? What other God allows His SON to be sacrificed and slain on a cross - the punishment of criminals - for the sins of people who may or may not even accept Him into their lives? What other God can move mountains and break down strongholds for you in this world. NO OTHER GOD!!! Okay, so at this point, you're either convinced or you're 'bout to stop reading. I hope it's the former. On to the promises part. God loves us SO MUCH, He makes promises to us. And He ALWAYS keeps them. If you're like me, at one point in your life, you dealt with stress, anxiety and worry (this is a longer post). But what's incredible about God is that He will ALWAYS be there for you. There isn't a problem you're experiencing in this life that He doesn't care about because it affects you. You can't say to God, "Oh, God, this problem is too small and trivial for You to waste Your time on - I know You don't care," because if it's important to YOU, it's important to GOD. So often in this life, we get caught up in the circumstances of the world, but we don't focus on God's promises to us as His children. If you are a child of God, you don't stress. You don't grow anxious. You don't worry! Some of my favorite promises are: He will never leave us nor forsake us. He holds us by His righteous right hand. His peace transcends all understanding. ALL things work together for good for those who love Him. I can trust in Him with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. He didn't give us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. He is faithful, and He will do it. He is my rock, my refuge. God claims me as more than a conqueror. And, most encouraging, John 16:33 gives us these comforting words from Jesus: "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Y'all - that's what being a child of God is! His promises promise us a life of peace! There are numerous other promises in the Bible, but these are the ones I recite in my head when I feel lost or scared or uncertain. And as you affirm them, God comforts you in your time of need. Y'all still with me? Okay, good! Lastly, God is all-powerful. Like --- He can do ANYTHING. When most people think of God's ability to perform miracles, they think of Moses parting the Red Sea. They think of Jesus feeding feeding 5,000 people with a couple of fish and a few loaves of bread. But what a lot of people fail to realize is that God didn't stop there. He didn't call it quits back in the days of the Bible. I've seen Him work miracles in my life and in other people's lives in the here and now. I've been there on my knees calling out to Him to do things that ONLY HE has the power to do. Miracles happen when your faith and God's power collide. (I stole that from Pastor Trav, so don't attribute it to me lol) Do you really think God was like, "Mmm I'ma stop my miraculous works in the 2000s...It's too late for them...?" No way, man! I told myself I would always be real with y'all, so here it is. To go along with His ability to work miracles in your life, we also have to get real about His wrath. This isn't a series of paragraphs to scare you into knowing God, but let's be honest here - Jesus is coming back one of these days. Probably soon. We know not the time nor the hour, but He'll be back. And your good deeds, your great morals, your love for other people and all of the other things people think will save them are NOT gonna get you a first class ticket through the gates of heaven. Shoot - even Zephaniah 1:18 notes that your money can't save you from the end of times. If you're thinking you don't need God in this life because you're ballin' and you got a great job and you're happy with everything... none of that is going to matter when Jesus returns on that white horse. But fear not, child! That's why Jesus is here for ya. That's why we've been given the privilege to know Him and accept Him into our lives. By His wounds, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)! Whew! That was a lot. But I pray everyone who reads this post will get something out of it. I just want you to experience God in all of His glory. I want you to experience All He can do for you. I pray you'll feel the love He encompasses you in, His greatness and His faithfulness. If you ever wanna talk about it, we're all ears. [email protected] Like a fine wine with a delicious dinner, here are some good musical pairings for this post. "Made a Way" - Travis Greene "Do It Again" - Elevation Worship "How He Loves" - David Crowder Band - L
0 Comments
“Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem, by the gazelles, yes, by all the wild deer: Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up, until the time is ripe --- and you’re ready.” – Song of Solomon 2:7
“…Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up, until the time is ripe and you’re ready” has literally been in the pit of my soul for days now. Now, let me first say that I am as single as the four quarters in my cup holder. Don’t make any sense, huh? Yeah, that’s how single I am. Pray for me saints. (ha) But no, really. I know the struggle. I know the struggle of being/feeling rejected. I know the struggle of really not liking “Dae-Dae” because he does this high-pitched laugh I just can’t get with, or even the struggle of “there’s plenty of fish in the sea, honey, just be patient. *heavy side eye and eye roll* If someone can send me a memo of which sea everyone seems to be fishing in to the comment box on our blog site, I’d really appreciate it! But no, again, I really have been there and fight every day not to go back there. I’ve felt the feeling of thinking I wasn’t attractive enough or just straight up not good enough because some man didn’t choose me to be his little boo thang (straight up foolishness). So, before I really try to break this thing down let’s cast these thoughts of foolishness and shake it off. Pray with me: “God, I thank you for choosing me. I thank you for loving me and creating me not in the realms of fear but of awesome wonder. The plans you have for me go beyond my little raggedy emotions and boxed in imagination, and I will trust in the path you have chosen for me. Thank you for your relentless love that continues to pursue me more than any other human being on this earth, and I thank you for helping me rest in that love. In Jesus' name, Amen.” Ok, whew! Now that we have declared that we are the bomb (because of Jesus love, of course). Let’s get to it! “Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up, until the time is ripe.” What does that even mean? Various translations of the Bible tell us not to awaken love before it’s time. Some of y'all gon' try and act like y'all don’t even know what that means. But it’s cool, I’m here. You know us women can be straight up forcers and try to force things because homie is kinda fine or whatever and the simple fact is: we just straight up thirsty. We get real cotton mouth for different people who aren’t even meant for us. “I aint never force nothing with no man in my life.” Baby girl, liking every picture on his Instagram and low key knowing his whole family by name before he even really knows your name is forcing it. This is the problem, here: We sometimes put so much focus on a certain (or a few, I don’t know your life, playa) man in just little things we do. Whether it's scrolling up and down his Instagram every couple of hours or even consuming our time texting and talking to him, resulting in not having enough time to sit before God, or even clean our dog on bathroom tub. We literally begin to idolize a human being (idol: anything you think about and give attention to more than God) and then when it doesn’t work out, our whole life comes crashing down. Now we are depressed, lonely, questioning our worth and straight up mad at God. Yo, it’s so funny how we be mad at God for something he clearly told us NO to. Let me say this: I know the feelings of depression, anxiety, so on and so forth are real life emotions and I’m not trying to downplay them. But those emotions were not meant for you. They weren’t created for you to rest in, and they are sent straight from the pits of hell. I am so sick and tired of women feeling like they aren’t enough because of a man. You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14), like straight up, this is not a game. *Puts hands on my head and paces the floor* God has created someone special just for you! Trust Him! His plan is perfect. What is for you will pursue you - every time! I know you gave that man your all, and he didn’t do nothing with it. I get it. But let it go. Give it to Jesus. Be fly! Learn to cook (currently)! Write a book! Learn scripture! Spend time in the presence of God! Grow as a woman! Help other women! Do and be all that God has called you to be. I really believe the person for you will align with your purpose. The person for me will align with my purpose (excuse me, while I stir myself up right quick). But, if you are so busy trying to find you’s a man and don’t even know what the purpose of your life looks like, your little find-a-man quick scheme isn’t going to go too smooth. Stop exciting things you aren’t ready for! Your fullness and wholeness is in Christ Jesus. Period, end, point blank. And if you don’t take the time to really rest in that promise and grow in it, every encounter you have with a counterfeit (a man you think is God’s best for you) will ruin you. I encourage those who may be in a current relationship that you know God has already given you that little nudge, like, “nah bruh, he aint it”. Leave, and ask God for courage to do so. And let’s be real, we are aware of those little nudges of no’s God gives us. But, we choose to ignore them because we really don’t trust God with our whole lives. “But, Ariel, I love him, he fine, he got a little money honey and he makes me happy.” And that’s all great, I bet he is an awesome person. But be led by the Holy Spirt inside of you and pay close attention. Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray about the person you may be or want to be involved with. God will reveal things to you that you can’t see. That person could be a great person but just not God’s best for you, and that’s okay. The good news is that God has even better for you! Also, side note: Let’s please throw the happiness part straight out the window. Like, being happy is a very important component of life and it will be present when you yield to God’s perfect plan for you. But stop depending on a man to make you happy! Happy is an emotion based from a condition and we all know the conditions of life change. So choose to be surrendered over happy! Now, that’s a good word right there! But I’ll tell y’all more later. Always remember: Yes to the wrong relationship is no to God’s best for you. Don’t get in the way of what God wants to orchestrate in your life. Allow Him to be the head of your life and stop trying to be in control. He knows you, and He knows who and what you need (thanks Jeff Bethke for the nugget, look him up!). Matthew 6:31-33 (MSG) tells us: “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. Lastly, there is NOTHING wrong with dating or courting at all. I just want you to be led by God in all that you do and pursue friendship before marriage while setting Jesus as your foundation. Don’t settle for the 7 when God has promised you a 10. I’m out. I love you, foreal! Xo -A Wilderness: an uncultivated, uninhabited and inhospitable region. A wasteland. (Thanks, Google).
Wilderness: when you graduate from the university of your dreams, you have a dozen (literally) internships and job experiences before graduating... and you still don't have a job upon graduation. You seek. You apply. You don't find. "But, God, didn't You say if I ask then I shall receive? God, didn't you say if I do the Lord's work, I'll get the desires of my heart? GOD, didn't you say You'd never leave me nor forsake me?!" We've all been in a wilderness, whether you realized it or not. You're in a pinch in your finances (see tithing post). You're looking for a job or internship. You're single and wanting your future spouse to find you (def another post). You're looking for a way out of a rock and a hard place. The thing about the wilderness is that you often don't see it coming, but it hits you like a ton of bricks when it comes. It's as if you're riding through the Sonoran desert on a party bus and you're suddenly dumped on the side of the road without food or water for [insert number of days]. Ouch. Still not getting the wilderness concept? Wildernesses are seasons in our lives when we feel as if we've reached our wits end. We feel neglected. Naked. Scared. Crippled. Wildernesses are times when you think God has forsaken you. "GOD, didn't you say You'd never leave me nor forsake me?" He sure did. In a book called It's Not What You Think by Jefferson Bethke (great read, highly recommend), I was introduced to the concept of a wilderness... and then I went through one. Thanks for the heads up, Holy Spirit. Either way, Bethke describes the wilderness as a desolate yet beautiful time. We are LURED into the wilderness by God -- and He's also the One Who brings us out. We grow closer to God in our wilderness because He's the only Power that can sustain us in that time. When we are meandering through our wilderness, God is the only Light that can lead us out of it. "But, Lauren, why would God lure me to a place that makes me feel lost and deserted?" God, as our Creator, wants us to need Him. He wants us to see how beautiful our lives are when we are out of our comfort zones and completely dependent upon Him. He wants us to see that He will fill the voids in our lives if we seek Him wholeheartedly -- even in the midst of a dry season. How often do you seek God if everything in your life is going perfectly? Rewind to my job dilemma. It's a longer story (tell ya later), but I had to be lured into that wilderness. I've trusted God to provide for me, and I've given Him the glory for the amazing things I was able to achieve in college. But at that point in my life (mind you, it was just a few months ago), I thought the work experiences I'd had were enough to get me the glitzy job in [insert city]. LAUREN's resume was spotless, and her references were incredible. But I wasn't getting calls back. I wasn't getting any bites from the jobs I wanted. I had to get to the end of myself - the end of what LAUREN was capable of doing herself - so that I could be sat down in my wilderness and see God in all His glory, all that He is able to do without any of my help whatsoever. I knew I wasn't going to settle for job offers in roles that didn't align with my career plans - those are the oases in the cartoons that the character hallucinates seeing after walking dehydrated in the heat for so long. You know the one with the flowing water and palm tree for shade. They're simply there to tempt you and see if you'll give in to less than what you know God has for you! Y'all, Jesus was tempted in the desert by the devil (Matthew 4) after not eating or drinking for 40 DAYS. I recognize we're not Jesus, but the awesome thing about Christ is that He lived as human flesh, so He knows exactly how we feel when we go through things, when our emotions start firing (another blog post), when we don't have what we (think we) need to survive. All God wants you to do in your wilderness is trust the process. You've heard them say "can't make diamonds without pressure," but what we really should think of is that God's perfect plan for your life can't come to fruition without you surrendering (there's that word again) it all to Him and trusting that He's going to get you through it and bring you to what HE has planned for you. Those plans are to prosper and not harm you, plans for a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). When I first read John 1:3, I thought it was crazy. Consider it PURE JOY, when you face trials of many kinds? Pure joy? I'm miserable, man! But nah - read the next two verses. "Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance FINISH ITS WORK so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing." Don't rush your wilderness, y'all. When it says you're lacking nothing, after you go through your wilderness, you're not lacking faith. You're not lacking patience. You're not lacking determination and perseverance. You're not lacking the tenacity it takes to get through life. We know Jesus' grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9) - we lack NOTHING if we recognize we can rest in His Grace. He told us to take heart because He has already overcome the world! (John 16:33) So amazing. I know I'm speaking broadly here, but from this year's election (pardon my partisan) to the tests of your spirit your friends or coworkers put you through, there are going to be so many things that you just don't understand in this life. "God, why I gotta go through this? I thought I showed You I love You and trust You already!" But the more you practice letting go and letting God, the more you let Him take the wheel and steer you in the direction in which you should go, the easier it is to go from faith to faith and get through your next wilderness or your next test/trial. God is omnipotent and omniscient, which are just two high school vocab words that tell us He is all powerful and everywhere all the time. When we recognize that He is right there watching us and waiting for us to grab His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10), that's when we learn to appreciate the wilderness and learn from all that its barrenness has truly brought us. Prayer: Father God, please guide me in this wilderness and let me be led by You and You alone. Please let Your good and perfect will be done in my life and allow me to see this wilderness as a time to grow closer to You. I trust You in this process because I know that after this season, I'll be more mature and complete in You. You are the bread of life and my sustainer! Thank you for molding and growing me so that I can have more perserverance and more faith. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Y'all are awesome! I love you! - L So you know that checklist you have? The one that reads: no drinking, no smoking, no having sex, no going to clubs, no listening to rap music, no to whatever you think that will send you straight to hell? Yea, that list. Rip it up.
Ok cool, now that we’ve gotten that hindrance out of the way. Lets talk about Sin. "Sin? Nah girl, I don’t sin. Besides God knows my heart." "And when I do sin it, isn’t a huge deal or anything. I mean I cuss sometimes, I drink a little more than I should, but I mean, it isn’t like I’m sleeping with somebody's husband/wife. The one person I am sleeping with is my girlfriend/boyfriend and besides we don’t have sex all the time – just a few nibbles here or there. It’s no big deal!" ...Y'all? Who this sound like? US! And if none of it sounds like you at one point in your life, leave. Lol jk But fareallllll – All sin, no matter what you deem large or small separates you from God. Isaiah 59:12 Just to be clear, separation from God means separation from the wholeness of Who He is, the wholeness of Who God created you to be. It also separates you from your purpose, and if you really want to get real, it will separate you from heaven after a while if you keep playing with it. So, what does sin really mean? After a good ol’ google search, it means to miss the mark. What mark is that? That mark for me is Jesus. If we are missing Jesus, that means we are missing love, joy, peace, purpose etc. Let me also say, that was much easier for me to type now then it was to convince myself back when I had my then “significant” other (which there was clearly no significance to him because he clearly didn’t care about my soul) kissing on my neck, while begging to put the tip in. Praise THE LORD for continued deliverance! I’ll go into sexual sin, lust and how it leads to raggedy soul ties in another blog. Sin is mentioned 100 times in the Bible! So don’t worry - you weren’t the only one then and 2,000 plus years later, you still aren’t the only one. I’ve been bound to a certain sin and let me tell you, that thing was no fun. So, how did you overcome it, Ariel? To tell you the truth, all I can give you is the cliché answer, and it's Jesus. Straight up and down the dude Who died for my sins. I’ve tried the check list, and it didn’t work. I felt like a crack-head. Well, not really but you get the picture I’m trying to paint. I was always giving into more nonsense and coming back flat empty. That’s what sin does. Ezekiel 4:16-17: Then he said to me, “Son of man, I’m going to cut off all food from Jerusalem. The people will live on starvation rations, worrying where the next meal’s coming from, scrounging for the next drink of water. Famine conditions. People will look at one another, see nothing but skin and bones, and shake their heads. This is what sin does.” Religion is not going to save you, but a relationship with Jesus will. You will not be able to get this thing right on your own accord. You will make yourself straight up miserable. I had to make a full out decision that each day, I wanted to see what Jesus was about, and that’s when my life began to change. You need more God. Spend time with Him! Press into Him! Stop being so thirsty when it gets hard and lay out before Him. He will get this thing right for you, not your little raggedy check list. I challenge you to focus your attention more on Him, and He will begin to literally take the taste of sin straight up out of your mouth. I literally would have to call that thing out and beg to God to help me in that certain area I wanted to continuously give into. Every day, even now, I must focus on Who Jesus is, from spending time in worship, listening to things that edify God (setting the atmosphere), and meditating on scriptures. If you’re having problems with sexual sin, the last thing you should be listening to is Uncle Luke’s greatest hits. But don’t take my word for it. None of this stuff is easy - it takes consistency and discipline. It’s a lifestyle because I’m telling you, I know the enemy is waiting for me to have an off week, where I miss my quiet time with Jesus and miss out on reading my Bible for about three days. But, I have to make a personal decision every day, that I’m good on the constant slip ups. I’m tired of missing the mark, I’m tired of missing Jesus. “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done.” Whatever that means, I’m all in! Although sin can cause you to fall, there isn’t a fall out there that God can’t catch you from. Even in your sin, He is constantly pursuing you with His relentless love. Don’t think for a second you must live like a saint for God to love you and pour His promises over you. Don’t think for a second that you’re too deep in your sin to receive the love of God. Don’t think for a second that God can’t use you because of what you’ve done or what you’re doing. Get this - it’s not about you, it's all about Him. It’s about embracing God and what He did for you that declares you fit before Him. You better go read about Abraham. That man there! Romans 4:17-18 tells us God made Abraham the “father of faith,” and it wasn’t because he lived like a saint but because God made something out of Abraham when he was nothing. Abraham plunged into God's promises and didn’t look at his own impotence but focused on God, His way, and His promises. This week, take the shift off of you. Write that thing down you’ve been struggling with and put it before God and give it to him. Your sins are wiped clean. Repent, for He keeps no score. Renew your mind with the Word of God (take a scripture a day on your struggle and read it over and over - Google is your friend). He loves you, He wants to pour out His holy spirit on you. Take this time now and worship all that He is and thank Him for loving you. You are no longer bound to sin or identified by it. I love you, foreal. Xo -A This Thanksgiving, our timelines were covered with dub challenges -- an old and recent picture of yourself juxtaposed to show how much you've "glo'n up" since grade school. The ugly years (then) vs. the pretty years (now).
While I honestly thought these were gold -- won't He do it! Lord knows I've been through my ugly stage -- I thought about what this means in terms of our spiritual glo up... or have we had one? Fall 2012, I was a naive freshman on the University of South Carolina's campus. I liked to hangout with my new friends. I liked to drink and party and smoke. I liked to kiss every cute boy who came my way. I liked to gossip with my friends (that's a whole 'nother blog post). I also had suicidal thoughts. I also suffered from anxiety so severe it would cause me intense stomach pain. I also used to obsess over my weight and body image so much I'd just stop eating if I thought I was getting too big. But in January 2013, I rededicated my life to Christ one Sunday evening after getting off work at Hollister and heading to my home church for evening service. The same church I'd been attending since I was 3 years old. The thing about your relationship with Christ is that it's not real until it's just you and Him. It's not real until you get to your wits end and are SO unhappy about life and your decisions and your situation that you can't do anything else but seek His face. No one can build your relationship with Christ but you. That's a deep COVENANT between you and God that no one can touch or interfere with. Fall 2016 looks A LOT different. I seek God in every aspect of my life, making Him the center of my life and not just a priority. I have a job I love and one in which I believe I'm doing God's work. I have a God-fearing, loving boyfriend who sets up physical boundaries FOR US. I have great mental health. I have friends who challenge me to be more like Christ. And, with God's guidance, I'm finally walking in my purpose and using my spiritual gifts by collaborating with my good friend in creating this blog. God is SO GOOD! Y'all - you can't compare your life to others' lives. You can't compare your glo up to others' glo ups. You can't compare your relationship with Christ to others' relationship with Christ. In Ephesians 4:22-24, the Bible says when we put off our former selves, when we die to our old ways, we are made new in the attitude of our minds. When we remove ourselves from lives corrupted by deceitful desires, we are new and created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Talk about refreshing! A concept noted in both Mark (chapters 9 and 2) and Luke (chapter 5) is that, back in the day, people didn't pour old wine into new wineskins. The reason behind that was because the new wine would not only burst the wineskin, creating a mess, but it would also ruin the new wine because it was mixed with the old wine. As Believers who are born again in Christ, we can't mix our past ways and our new selves. We can't live according to the flesh when we're trying to be made new in the Spirit. All it does is create in us a HOT MESS of a life and ruin our future selves. And just like wine, which is said to get better with age, our souls are supposed to get better with age as they are continously pruned by God. One time for the wine analogy. So, how do we do this aforementioned spiritual glo up? How do we have a better understanding of who God wants us to be, in Him? The more you press into God, the more you'll see yourself for who you are. You'll see you still need to work on denying your flesh (me). You'll see you still need to take better care of your body, working out and eating better (also me). You'll see you still need to work on being the friend, sister, daughter, coworker God is calling you to be (meeeee). But the best part about all of this is that you can see the growth you've had from where you were a month ago, a year ago, four years ago. You can see the growth you've had since you rededicated your life to Christ and surrendered it ALL (yes, all) to Him. Now that's how you win a dub challenge. Prayer: Father God, first off - thank you so much for saving me from my old self! Through your Son Jesus Christ, my Savior, I am made NEW! Please show me ways in which I can die to my flesh and live according to Your spirit. Please guide me in Your ways so that I can show others Your goodness. I know my body and my life are not my own - please lead me in my purpose and show me how to live the life You're calling me to live. I desire to know you more and more each day and spiritually mature in You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. - L |
Covenant BlogArchives
|