No One Like Him

Something that God's been teaching me is to meditate upon His person and declare His praises before I am so quick to rattle off my own cares and burdens or "obligations" to the Lord in prayer. Doing so reminds me of who I am talking to, of the smallness of me, and how much of what He has already accomplished and who He is answers my heart's deepest cries. Sometimes I need to stop listening to myself, and start preaching to myself. It's funny, the Lord has brought me to a place where I am actually convicted when I begin to get started on one of those pity-parties when things don't go the way I want them to. He gently reminds me that no, I know that that is not reality. I know better. I may not be able to know the future, but I DO know who my God is. And that, in of itself, is enough to fully content and bring peace to my soul when I fully drink it in, when I place my faith in Him. Verses in the Bible reassuring us of God's love and sovereignty weren't just placed there to make us feel warm and fuzzy long enough until we get that "thing" we so desire after. No, it is there because it is truth, and the Lord is not a means to an end..He is the end. Everything in between, THOSE were the shadows, those situations that the Lord uses to glorify Himself and lead us to Him, the greater reality, the truer good, the one Thing we have truly been looking for all along. Why do we wander? Why do we have such a shallow appetite, so easily satisfied? Let us look deeply into His face, craving Him above all else! There is NO ONE like Him!

But God...

Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy
Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead's deepest sea; be lost in His immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.

-C.H. Spurgeon

Looking Forward

Note #1: This photo holds no relevance to this post, I just felt a great need for some creative flair to this post--be it random or not!
Note #2: Some of these comments in this post seem almost unnecessary, but somehow I just need to refocus where my mind's at when it comes to writing here--I am naturally unstructured in thought!

After playing around with this blog for some time, I think that I will now use this "blog" thing for sharing what God's been teaching me as I pursue Him in this relatively new "chapter" of my life. In November 2009 I joined Crossroads Christian Fellowship, and recently started an internship there, and since joining the church I can honestly say it has changed my life. With this new time in my life, and with this crazy wave of growth that God has started in the process, I feel inclined to use at least the majority of what I write here to be sharing things that God is placing on my heart.

It's funny and humbling to realize that when I share a part of my life with others, trying my best to be transparent and give all I can (while exerting grace to myself because I know I am so mistake/accident prone and a sinner saved by the grace that God showed me on the cross), that He uses that somehow to bless others. It's crazy to me, but I love it, and it's an encouragement to stay close to Jesus and humbly give all that I am--even when I feel so awkward, young and inexperienced most of the time. All He asks is that I follow Him, and His grace is more than enough to cover all of my sin and failings. We just have to keep striving forward, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2)! His strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9-10). I want to give Him all that I have, and truth Him with the rest (Phil. 3:12-14).