It's been a while since I have written. In the times we are living in, I am finding a little bit of extra time to actually do things like read, write, and sing. It has not been the easiest of times either. I'm not talking about Covid-19, although it is not the greatest thing to be stuck at home. I'm talking about my life personally. Without going into major details, it has been an emotionally trying time for me the past few months. I had foot surgery (#3!) in December, and since then it has been a roller coaster of feelings and emotions.
One thing that I have been able to do is really focus on my relationship with God. As a mom, things can get busy! And to be completely transparent, God was not a priority. Looking back now, I see where I was putting other things before Him. Friendships, activities, hobbies, any number of things. I ignored the prompting of the Holy Spirit to bring Him first. And I am regretting those lost years. But it's time to look forward, and I am so excited to share what I have been learning.
1. Getting my priorities straight. Something most people struggle with, honestly. You have to get them right, don't you? When you are a Christian, and you do not put God as a priority in your life, things get MESSED UP. It is SO so easy to push God aside, and say, "well this is more important." But when we have our priorities with God lined up right, it's amazing how everything else just lines up!
2. The call to separation. It's hard to be in the world but not of the world. And I have admitted to myself that in the past few years of my life, I had slipped into a complacent place with things in my life and being separate from things of the world. I'd find ways to justify what I was doing. And I would tell myself, "oh this isn't bad. It's not like you are getting drunk or cheating on your spouse or murdering anyone." But when I sat down to really think of what I was letting myself say and think, the Holy Spirit said, "Sin is sin is sin." Gossip, talking bad about people, complaining, pretending to be someone I wasn't just to "fit in"....I was done. I was tired of being someone I was not just to "keep friends". By getting into God's Word and surrounding myself with people who helped me get closer to God was when I realized something had to change. I needed to separate from those things that were bringing me down (ahem, #1). It was affecting my health, and as I look back now, I see where the whole time God was saying "should you be speaking this way? Should you be talking bad about that person? Should you be complaining about your spouse? Is it really that important to you to feel like you belong? You belong to ME!" And that still small voice, saying "be still, listen to Me...I am here" was getting louder and making more sense. Am I "there"? No way. But my eyes have been opened to the truth of how influential the people around you really are! It's a lifelong journey.
3. New discoveries. I am doing a Bible study now in the book of Genesis called God of Creation, by Jen Wilkin, and I am learning so much about things I have never even thought of before! When you hear "be fruitful and multiply", what do you think of? Babies, right? Check that off our list! We were fruitful and multiplied, done! But in the lesson this week, the teacher brought up something I had NEVER thought of. What about the single women, or the women dealing with infertility? How can they be fruitful and multiply? And then she went on to say that God spoke that to His Creation. We are ALL to ALWAYS be fruitful and multiply. And how do we do that? Love. Joy. Peace. Long-suffering. Gentleness. Goodness. Meekness. Faith. We should always be striving to produce these fruits in our lives. Multiply those fruits. What a challenge we have been given!
No one has arrived. We are all works in progress. Works to bring glory to God. I pray that in my life I never get to the point again when I compromise or am complacent. I pray that for the rest of my life God shapes me, molds me, challenges me to be the best I can be FOR HIS GLORY.
My encouragement? Listen to the prompts of the Holy Spirit. Don't push them aside for another day. You will never know how full your life will be when you have God leading your steps every day!
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