"Come near to God and he will come near to you." James 4:8a
What a statement. God is a gentleman – though He loves us immensely, He won't ever force himself upon us.
Something that they made sure we knew at training camp was that the race is not going to be easy. It's simply going to be life – life that's lived serving others. And sometimes, (a lot of the time) it's going to be incredibly hard. Because, while we’re going all these places and working with all these different ministries, for the purpose of making God known, we will sometimes forget that God wants to spend time loving us, too.
No one is going to spoon feed us. If we want to grow, we are going to have to push ourselves. We are going to have to commit to chasing wildly after God even when we're tired and really just don't feel like it.
We must learn to pursue God, even in the midst of suffering, homesickness, and fear. We must intentionally take time to get alone with Him.
As the preparations of Christmas and the race collide, I've been guilty of putting my relationship with Christ on the back burner. Instead of seeking Him out, I've been stressed out. Instead of preparing my heart, I've been wrapping up gifts. This scares me. I've been on the mission field, and I've been burnt out before, but with the race, you don’t get to go home after a few weeks. You don't get a break from community. You don't get to take a break from serving.
The past few days, God has been teaching me that this struggle is one that isn't going to end any time soon. I'm always going to have to choose Him over other things. I'm always going to have to say, "no", to something or someone else so that I can say, "yes", to Him. I'm always going to have to be intentional in the time that I spend with Him. And sometimes it will be a real struggle, but He is so worth it.
How can you be more intentional in your own walk with Christ? Accountability? Discipline? Saying, "no", to other things?
"You will seek me and find me when you seek be with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13
