Wow, I knew I was hearing someone crying for the past 19 days because of neglect...sorry blog, I'll try to never go that long again.
Lately, lately meaning the past two weeks, I have been working on my relationship with a certain someone. That certain someone being my maker, God. When I was down in College Station visiting my sister, Haley, we were in her room and I started talking to her about how I don't even feel like I am even worthy of spending time with God. This is because I have been completely ignoring him for a while now, a while meaning months.
I asked Haley if she has felt this way too and she told me "No."
This made me feel as though my heart had just been broken.
The maker of this whole universe (I just got chills), the one who has given me so much grace and so many second chances time and time again...I have been ignoring him to the point where I don't feel his presence anymore in my daily life.
Haley told me that she bought a journal and put her bible right by her bed, and she wrote out a prayer to God and reads it to Him every night. Hearing her say this, I knew I had to change my daily routine drastically, not just spending ten minutes a night with God and then saying a half asleep prayer to Him when I was going to sleep. No, God longs for each and every one of us to LIVE for him! Every day we should try to glorify Him!
When I got back to Lubbock, that night I got my Bible and an amazing book I started reading this summer off my shelf in my room, the book being "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. (If you do not own this book, I'm telling you now...drop whatever you are doing and go buy it.)
This book will change the way you live your life.
While I read it, I highlight sentences or key words that stand out to me. Some of which I
am going to share now.
Something I read a couple nights ago was about 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 which states:
"Love is patient and kind; love does not boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices at the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends...faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
I have heard and read this verse a MILLION times, but it wasn't until I read Crazy Love that I truly understood it. Francis Chan, the author, challenges the reader to take the phrase Love is patient and substitute their name for the word love. (For me, "Holly is patient...") Do it for every phrase in the passage.
I strongly encourage those who are reading this to add your name in there and then think about the verse again. Don't you feel like a liar? I sure did.
Francis says, "Following Christ isn't something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are."
Sorry this post is so long but lately I have felt the love of Christ so abundantly that I can't even contain it. I promise, if you take the time to spend some MUCH needed time with the Lord...you'll feel the joy that the Lord offers!
God is so good!
-Holly
