May the God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
After being out on the Race for four months (WOW!), I have come to understand how much the Lord loves to teach his children. He is stocked with all kinds of lessons, thoughts, concepts he wants us to know so that we grow in a deeper, more intimate relationship with him. Some of these lessons are pretty quick to understand, others are much harder and take a lot breaking to get to where the Lord wants us to be.
Nevertheless, the Lord has been teaching me a lot about my current self and who he wants me to be. Most of the time I have had to go through the same thing every month to be reminded of the promises God has made me. He is always teaching me about his love and forgiveness. It is boundless and endless; there is nothing I could do to make him love me more or less. I need this reminder almost daily.
The ultimate lesson I am learning, and one I will learn throughout the whole Race as well as my lifetime, is how much better life is when God is in it. When he is there, present, and included in every thought, word, and action life has easiness and peace that was not there before. I have joy, grace, and strength that can only be possible rooted in the Lord.
As I am learning this lesson constantly, my ideas of myself and my relationships with others take on a whole new meaning. When Christ is the center of who I am and my relationships, real, true, and divine love seeps through every fiber of who I am, never ceasing.
It is hard for me to allow Christ into every crack and cranny of my life. After doing things on my own for so long, I have to learn to surrender my heart, body and mind to him daily. AND IT IS SO HARD! Some days it seems impossible and all I really want to do is crawl in my bed, watch You’ve Got Mail, and hide from whatever the Lord is doing because it hurts so much
BUT IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL! Allowing the Lord to make me into a better person is so sweet sometimes it is overwhelmingly wonderful. I want to be this beautiful woman who is filled with the richness of God’s love, laughing at the days to come. I begin to welcome the hurt and the heartache as the Lord breaks me down only to build me up into the woman he has always wanted me to be. He sifts the hard places of my heart so the only thing left is the true goodness of Christ in me.
I am still not 100% there yet and I don’t think I ever will be. It is a life long journey, and it won’t end until I am in the arms of my dear Savior.
If you are on this same journey that I am on, if the Lord is breaking you down only to build you up again, if you have good days and bad days, DON’T GIVE UP! Keep going and keep fighting. God is fighting with you and for you. He wants you to surrender all of yourself to him: the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you allow him to have all of who are, your life will be filled the sweet fragrance of the Father’s love. Do not stop running towards him! He wants to make you brand-spankin’ new!
The One who calls you is Faithful, and He will do it.
