I am the worst at praying. Most days I’ll just think about how great God is, but never actually sit down and thank Him for it! So I’ve been meaning to work on this a lot, and this morning, for the first time in a while, I sat down for a few hours and just thanked God and asked for His wisdom. After this I finished my quiet time, wrote some thank you notes, and then checked my email to see that one of my family members donated $500!!! (Wow God you do work fast!!) This was a huge blessing for me, but I didn’t realize at the time that “Oh this is probably because I prayed a lot to Him this morning.” So I went about my day, went to work, to the gym, to church, etc., and I get home and check my email and see another supporter has donated $1,000!! I immediately go hug my mom, call my dad, call my friends, and tear up because of how much of a blessing this was!
It was like all of a sudden it clicked. God’s grace can happen years from now, or it can happen in a few minutes! Honestly, sometimes I have doubts that God’s plan is not for me to do this race. I get so caught up in how much I want to do this trip, that I get scared that maybe this is my plan, not His. But today has really set in stone how much God truly wants this to be a part of His plan.
In my “5 minutes with Jesus” book today had a chapter on being a Living Sacrifice. The author wrote a story about her son and his school project and some how connected it to being a living sacrifice to God? Not sure, might be a stretch, but at the end of the chapter they have 5 bible verses that relate to the message, and I read Romans 12:1-2 really this morning, not really realizing until this evening how much it related to my experience today.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Paul writes to tell us this is one of the biggest things we can do as Christians. Give all that we are, say, have, do to God only. And the fact that what we do is acceptable and holy to Him! Even considered a form of worship! Because we fail every time at becoming a living sacrifice to God, but he accepts it and loves us through. Paul says to not conform to this world and sacrifice everything it tells us to do! As Jesus said in John 15, we are not of this sinful world, but He wants us to be taken out of it! Through testing ourselves with these sacrifices, we find the ultimate will of God for our lives. I believe that by sacrificing myself this morning through prayer, God has made His will known to me.
I think the biggest take away from this post would be that if we are obedient and sacrificial to God, then He will never lead us astray. We will fail over and over again, but if we are obedient to confess and ask for Him to provide grace, He will. I’m so blessed with the amount of spiritual growth I have made while fundraising and preparing for my trip. Thank you again to all my supporters! 🙂 If you would like to ask questions or just talk, all my contact info is on this blog page!
