Persevering

   Psalm 27:7-8. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek."

   I just spent one fantastic week at TeenPact (a Christian government education program if you're wondering). That's always one of the best weeks of my year because it's positively drenched in God's Word and prayer. It's so unifying, like a little piece of what Heaven must be like. Everyone seeks to give the LORD glory in everything they do, and they build eachother up at the same time. It's basically a spiritual high.

   It's so easy to enjoy a time of communion and fellowship with your brothers and sisters, and with Abba Father. But it's even easier to come crashing down in the weeks following. You go home, starving for more of God's Word. Time goes by nonetheless, and before you know it, you've settled right back into complacency.

   For years, I'd wonder what was wrong. Why can't I keep up this passion? I've pondered and meditated and tried to sort it out. I still don't have an answer. I don't know if it's a bad thing to settle back into complacency and callousness, or if that's just everyday life. But I know what has worked for me just this last year and it's simple. Be diligent. Persevere.

   It was particularly after TeenPact National Convention. God convicted me about purity in every aspect and my heart was softened. He took away my callousness and I have never experienced such communion with the LORD. I knew very well that the spiritual high wouldn't last when I got home. Just like the writer of Come Thou Fount, I'm prone to wander and I would stray sooner or later.

   So I decided that my spiritual life wouldn't go up and down with TeenPact events, but would remain steady in everyday life. My everyday walk with God would be one step after another, not giving up. I knew hard times would come, but I also knew those hard times would come with grace in proportion. God has always guided me, and He would continue to.

   My blog has reflected my up and down walk with God. I usually share whatever I happen to learn, but I wasn't always learning. There are times when I go days without reading my Bible, and times when I could spend hours reading and studying. In the dificult times, I usually needed to come to a realization that my anchor chain was being stretched tight. I had to see that my life was losing its luster before I started climbing back up. But when God opened my eyes, He was faithful to bring me back.

   It takes steady step-after-step commitment. It takes daily exercise and the strength of God to stay fixed upon Him. But don't give up. You don't need to wait - in fact you shouldn't wait - for your next spiritual high to be able get back on track with God. After all, He's always the same through the good times and bad. The same God who drew you near up on the moutain top, also walks beside you in the valley.

   This isn't the end of my journey. I have a long way to go and I know there are more valleys along the way. But each one makes me a stronger and more seasoned follower of God, if I keep Him by side.

   In parting I want to share a hymn I read this morning, that encouraged me never to give up. When I open my Bible, I don't want to read my chapter and check it off the to-do list. I need meat from the Spirit. I ought never leave my study time until I have been taught by the Lord.

Lord, we come before Thee now
At Thy feet we humbly bow
Oh, do not our suit disdain!
Shall we seek Thee, Lord, in vain?

Lord, on Thee our souls depend
In compassion now descend
Fill our hearts with Thy rich grace
Tune our lips to sing Thy praise

In Thine own appointed way
Now we seek Thee, here we stay
Lord, we know not how to go
Till a blessing Thou bestow

Send some message from Thy Word
That may joy and peace afford
Let Thy Spirit now impart
Full salvation to each heart

A Prayer Upon Entering the Church

   "Almighty, ever-living God, grant that I may gladly hear Your Word and that all my worship be acceptable unto You. Amen."

   This is a simple way to direct your focus when you arrive at church. Being at church is about focusing on the Father, and learning what we can about Him, in order to serve Him more aptly.

Exercise Yourself - Random Thought

   1 Timothy 4:7-8. ~  But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.  For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

   The Christian walk is a daily discipline. It takes commitment, diligence and never-ending perseverence. But the best part of the deal is that God gives us the strength to walk, step after step.

   Exercise daily!

Heaven Is A Wonderful Place

   My biggest fear - currently, ha - is earthquakes. It's a pretty illogical one because I live in the heartland of America, nowhere near a significant fault line. But I can blame it on the movie 2012. Ever since watching it, I have been in fear of apocalyptic earthquakes, volcanoes, cracks opening up in the middle of nowhere... etc. I never should have seen that movie.

   Even though that movie was fictional, and maybe even pointless to watch, there's a bit of truth in it. The world will really end someday. This earth we live on will cease to exist- it will be destroyed. Perhaps that is what my fear of earthquakes stems from; a sign of end times, and the end of life as we know it.

   When I was younger, perhaps 10 or 11, I sang in a quartet with three girls my age named Emily, Jamelia and Anna. The song went "Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace..." It was cute to say the least, my mom even videotaped it. That was years ago. Last night, I went to Anna's viewing. She died in a car accident. She wasn't texting, she wasn't on her phone, she had her seatbelt on. No one is sure what exactly happened, but nonetheless, Anna is gone. She was only 20 years old.

   Death is something all of us fear, at one time or another. "Death comes with a crawl, or he comes with a pounce..." you can't predict what moment you will die. You can't always predict how you will die. The death of a young person makes you stop and question life. You wonder what your end will be, you wonder what people will say at your own funeral or how many people will come. You start saying "I love you" more often, you take the time to resolve things. You don't want to miss a moment.

   But death isn't something to be fear! It is a rebirth, into everlasting life.

   I love the quote from C. S. Lewis' 'The Last Battle', which goes:

   "And as he spoke he no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

   As a friend once said, "No one ever picks up a book, stops at the title page and says 'That was pretty good stuff! Lemme just read that again a few times...' Our lives are just the title page!"

   While we are appreciating the little things in our lives on earth, we ought to be building treasure in heaven. Right now we are earth-bound, but someday, we will be set free! It will be a joyous reunion.

   Anna, welcome to Chapter One of the Great Story. You surely know now that Heaven is a wonderful place.

Glorius Singlehood

   As I was praying and writing in my prayer journal today, it crossed my heart to pray for the single women that I know. Surprisingly, there are several that I can think of off the top of my head, and three of them in particular stand out from the others. I continued to pray, and realized these three women stood out so much, because they are so devoted to the Lord.

   I won't name them, but just know that if you are a woman over 20 and single, I admire you very much. It takes strength that only comes from the Lord, to find contentment in your state of life. I don't find myself in pity, but in awe and respect of your dependence on the Father. You radiate a kind of joy and confidence that I don't notice in married women, because you are not distracted by a man. Your sufficiency is in Christ alone, He is your Lover and He holds your admiration. You are someone I desire to model my attitude after.

   You are in my prayers still. I pray that God will show you tender mercies, and be extra near and dear. He is sufficient, and all-wise. He knows what is very best for you, He is able to provide what is best for you, and He also loves you enough to give you the best. =) No man can do that. From one single sister to another, love and blessings. You are in my heart.