This year has been full. When I think about my life as a glass of water, it’s been completely overflowing. As I have reflected on the past 11 months, God has rocked my world and revealed to me so many simple truths that I would like to share:
-God is good. So simple; yet so profound. If you truly believe God is good then you won’t be wrapped up in lies, shame, and questioning whether whatever you’re going through is from the Lord. God is good & He does good. And out of the goodness of His heart does His love for us overflow. (Psalm 119:68)
-Faith is not based on feelings. A BIG concept the Lord has been teaching me for months is to not have a “circumstantial faith”. In the words of my pastor, “If you have a faith based on your feelings…you’re just screwed!!” So often in my life I have based my faith on how I feel—and my feelings can be so misleading. God has been teaching me how to rely on the Truth of His Word and not to rely on how I feel.
-Life is more than the clothes I wear and the food I eat. Matthew 6 coming in strong!!! I think so often about how excited I am to eat my mom’s southern cooking and Chick-Fil-A when I get home. But when I truly pause to think about it—food is fleeting. My clothes at home are fleeting. At some point I won’t have the delicious taste of Chick-Fil-A sauce in my mouth. My clothes will get so worn out that I have to throw them away eventually. But God is constant. His goodness is more than my heart can handle. As A.W. Tozer says, “O God, I have tasted thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace.”
-God’s Word is the solid foundation for my life. Ever since I was young I have always had a passion for Scripture. This year the Lord has revealed to me my absolute NEED for the Word every single day. It’s how I hear God speaking so clearly. His Word truly has become my daily bread, and I can’t go a day without it.
-I need vast open skies. Living on a farm in Ethiopia is where God completely changed my heart in my desire for His presence. My heart longs for open fields where I can go sit and pray out loud without a person around me for as far as the eye can see. I have truly heard the Lord in the wide open fields and I long to have a space like that where I can go at home.
-Read the Word out loud. If you want to hear God speak, just read the Bible out loud. I promise it will change you.
-Prepare yourself to receive blessings. If you want God to bless you, sometimes you need to take a step and prepare yourself to one day receive the blessing. I wrote more about this here: http://alexandrabanks.theworldrace.org/post/make-room-a-devotional
-There is truly nothing and no one that compares to Jesus. I have been around countless religions, and there is no other that comes close to love and hope Jesus so graciously gives. The more I get to know Jesus, the more I desire to be like Him. I just want the rest of the world to know Him too.
-Worship is a lifestyle. Are you washing your clothes? It’s worship. Cooking dinner for your team? It’s worship. Sitting in a bus held hostage in the middle-of-nowhere Peru? It’s worship. If you have a heart posture that is humble before the Lord, everything is worship. (Colossians 3:17)
-Keep saying “Yes.” God requires obedience. God may ask you to do something and you may be terrified (literally me going on the Race), but He requires you to step out in faith and say YES! You will always see the blessings in the long run.
