There is much to say and much on my heart, but I really just want to share what God is showing me.
Lately I have been thinking about how truly blessed I am. Yes, I have problems, but I have a wonderful home, a good job, an amazing, supportive family, food, clothing and an ability to choose to pursue my dreams and goals. These things I have taken for granted, when so many in the world do not have these same things.
God stopped me today as I was eating a wonderful dinner and just told me, "Hey, Hannah, you are BLESSED." So now it is our turn. What do we do with these blessings? Hold them in with a tight fist? Or choose to share them. I have heard many times–"We are blessed to be a blessing." What does thing truly mean? What does this look like in my daily life here?
I pray to God that I may not be so stingy, not hold tightly on to the things I can not really ever control. Things that in reality to do not belong to me–but really belong to God. Again, I'm reminded of His word. This is a famous passage from Matthew 16:24-26 from the Message version of the bible:
24-26Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?
How strong are these very words of Christ. They pierce my heart and also challenge me to long for the life of self-sacrifice, to truly find the life He has called for us to live.
I do not want to gain the world, as other versions say, or get everything that I want, only to find it has robbed me of my soul and left me empty.
Oh Lord help us choose the way of self-sacrfice to truly find our life in You! This is my prayer. I pray it is yours also. I pray that with all the blessings we have, we won't just spew of Christianese phrases like, "We are blessed to be a blessing" without any real change or action on our part. But I pray that we truly will choose the way of self sacrifice, to deny ourselves and die to our desires. I pray that you and I choose sacrfice to find the life Christ has for us–a life of pain sometimes, of living without, so others can find the life of Christ as well.
