I’m now writing this blog from the Caribou Coffee in Waterloo. This is a drastic change for us both. I bet you guys are wondering how long i’ll keep up this whole blog thing. The truth is, i’m not entirely sure. I would say indefinitely. I have an eagerness to share what the Lord is doing and showing me, and I don’t think that can be quenched completely through other methods.
Since I’ve returned home, its been hard to see the Lord consistently through the flurry of distractions, and other comforts. It seems like my gaze is always diverted by the loudest things in my daily life. An obvious and consequent axiom is this; the farther I get from him, the less I hear him.
Today, this experience evoked a Psalm to my mind that I had read a few days prior and sort of confusedly tilted my head at.
Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
They shall not reach him.
Psalms 32:6
It was this verse that inspired me to leave the rushing waters and climb the rock of objectivity; to asses my current situation.
Secondarily, I want to encourage you all, don’t neglect the value of distance. You and I cannot look at something neutrally, while we are experiencing it. For example, i’ve been running lately. I’ve noticed that If I don’t plan how far I am going to run prior to my first couple steps, then ill be running based on what I feel, rather than what I know myself to be capable of.
So with all things, plan ahead. Set your limitations and capabilities before you begin. There are a few ways this has manifested in my life. I made a sort of covenant with myself and the Lord containing the things I will stay away from, and the things I will pursue during my time home. I am planning budgets, workouts, 1 on 1’s, resting time, quiet times, and other random things.
So that vision brought me here to Caribou, where I got to spend some great time with the Lord, and really uprooted some parasitic mindsets. I have planned to take at least a day a week, and come write and study for an extended period of time rather than just daily bread devotions in the mornings.
What did I learn?
That I’m very prideful in my relationship with God. I falsely perceive my relationship with God as a fruit of my own doing. I stumbled upon Ephesians 2 this morning, and the Lord had direct word for me there.
Ephesians 2:8 is the goldmine for a prideful spirit.
“But by grace you were saved through faith”.
Pause-
Listen I know things don’t always land in your mind, but for each reader, I’ve prayed that this verse does. Let me also quickly add that I pray for all my readers, and so if you don’t receive anything from this blog, at least you’re being interceded for.
Continuing.
What I needed to know today was that my faith came after Gods grace. He enabled my salvation.
So to myself, and the person who is reading this right now with the same mentality, listen here.
You didn’t do it.
God did.
You didn’t love your way into heaven.
God loved you into it.
You didn’t find mercy.
Mercy found you.
Thank you Jesus. Let us not be the Pharisee in Luke 18:9.
Thank God for who he is.
Not for who you are.
