A Daily Choice

I have never blogged before, so we will see how this goes. :)

Oswald Chambers says in his book, My Upmost for His Highest, "Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul.  The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves.  And we cannot hear anything God says.  But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be profoundly changed."

I have come to the conclusion that we are all on a journey, a journey to be complete, whole and truly satisfied.  You know, maybe I'm the only one out there, though I do not believe I am, who struggles with a longing for wholeness, but so often chooses quite the opposite.  This is something the Lord has really been teaching me lately.  I have a choice to make each day, will I follow the Lord Jesus Christ and walk this path to true wholeness, hope and freedom, or will I go my own self-destructive, self-seeking, self-protective way.   I'm tired of choosing the later, and I'm ready to choose daily to follow Jesus.  I have walked the path of self-denail for far too long.  It is time to own up to my own brokeness and sin.  Why are we so afraid to talk about brokeness and sin?  Why have these terms become so offensive?  It's in talking about our brokness and sin that we find the freedom our hearts so desperately long for.  I have often wondered to myself, there has got to be more to my life in Christ and do you know what I have come to conclude?  There is far much more to my life in Christ!  It's time to walk in true freedom and victory. 

I remember a time when life seemed much simpler, but I wonder how deep my faith in the goodness of God truly was.  Yes, I loved Jesus and was passionate about Him, but how deep were those roots of belief?  I have come to learn they were not very deep.  Having a relationship with Jesus, just like w/ your spouse or friend, is not always about feelings and emotions.  It's about a deep trust and inner knowing that Christ really does have your best interest in mind and that whatever life throws at you you really are safe in His arms.  I do not always feel in love with Jesus, but do I love Him?  Oh yes, I do, but there's a difference between feeling in love and making a commitment to love.  I am choosing to follow Jesus, I am choosing to love, to obey and to surrender even when life circumstances tell me He is not working for my good.  How foolish I would be to believe any other way than what the Word tells me, that He is indeed working for my good (Rom. 8:28).  I think in today's culture we are so prone to leave relationships when they get difficult.  I will not always feel in love with my husband, but have a made a commitment to him, you bet I have.  Marriages take work, and we cannot nor should we ever neglect the fact that our relationship with Christ takes work and commitment. God longs to bring you to a place of rest, of deeper intimacy with Him.  He will not give up on you, do not give up on Him.