Over the past few months, God has been teaching me a lot about where I have been investing my love and my time. Sometimes, it takes God removing things we think we “love” from our life in order for Him to place our focus back on what is most important. The past few months have been really rough for me because time after time, the Lord has been taking things away from my life that I thought were significant. I could not understand why I had to hurt the way I was or why the Lord would take away these things that I truly loved. My world seemed to be crumbling around me, but the Lord was there to pick up the pieces. And through His word, through prayer, through pain, and through praise, He showed me that there is nothing more important and nothing more worthy of my love than Christ alone. He has truly revealed to me how sovereign He is; He has plans for me that are far better than anything I could even imagine for myself. So instead of asking God why He was taking things away from me, I started praising Him for all of the new things He was revealing to me. He was giving me so many new opportunities and blessing me in so many ways that I had never been open to before. I hadn’t had the time or the open heart to see what else the Lord had planned. And He had to take things out of my life that had been distracting from the path that He was trying to place me on.
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.” –Psalm 63:1-4
I was fearful to let go of these things that I was so used to and so in love with. They had become so important to me that they were overshadowing what God wanted for my life. I was trying to take matters into my own hands instead of listening to the Lord’s plan. I was scared that life without them would not “work”. But the Lord has shown me that life has room to grow so much greater when all importance is placed on Him. Choosing to love Him the best that I possibly can is all He is asking of me. And through opening up my heart to this call, He has answered my prayers. He has overcome my pain, and He has conquered my fears.
“I sought the Lord, and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears.” –Psalm 34:4
Jesus is better than anything else that we could ever choose to invest in. He is worth giving up things of the world that we love because He is SO MUCH BETTER. We should be fully committed to the Lord at all times. It’s not a halfway, sometimes, maybe thing- we must be willing to give up whatever is in the way of loving God with our whole heart. So in those times when we do fall down and lose sight of this truth, God picks us back up, and by His grace, puts us on our feet to walk in His way again. We have to trust Him with our life. We have to trust that His plan is better than our own. He wants to be able to use our lives for His glory, but we must be willing to give our lives completely to Him- no matter what else that means giving up. Our most important role in life is to glorify and honor God. Colossians 3:23 tells is that whatever we do, we must do it for the Lord.
“There is no one else for me, none but Jesus. Crucified to set me free, now I live to bring Him praise.”
The last thing I want to share is how the Lord is blessing me already this summer. I have been given the opportunity to be the high school ministries intern at my church, and I could not be more excited! I know that God has amazing plans. I cannot wait to see how He works through me with the students and how He works in me through this ministry. This is the perfect place to spend my summer, and I’m eager to see His plans unfold. Also, I am going back to the Dominican Republic in July. This will be my third trip, and I can’t even begin to explain how much the Lord has taught me and used me during these times. I could write all day about His goodness and how wonderful the DR has been to me, but I will let this video speak for itself... The DR Project
If you would like a support letter for my trip, whether it be to give financially or prayerfully, please let me know. I would be more than happy to send you one!
I pray the Lord showers you with blessings as He has for me, and that in hard times, you would make it through by clinging to His promises…
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11
Have a wonderful day!
