Can You Say, "Amazing Love"?

Life is a whirlwind for sure. And one thing that I've come to accept is the beauty of it. Especially when I have someone as incredible as Jesus Christ on my side.
Recently I've had a lot of good times, and a lot of "realizations". I'm trying more so lately to give God my best. To really try and encounter Him, to grow and know Him the way He desires me to. God showed me that, contrary to what I've always thought, my purpose is to know God. To really know Him. I always thought that each of us had a sole purpose, that was uniquely ours. A purpose to do something. To change the world in some way. To be able to be remembered. But guess what! We do all have a purpose, yes. But that purpose is to know God. That's all He requires of us. That's all He desires from us.
He is such a great, indescribable God, that by knowing Him we can't help but improve our person. And when we do that which we were created to do; know God.

Seek Him, talk to Him, read His love letter to us, sit quietly in His presence.

When we get to that point, the other things will come about through Him. Then it truly is all for His glory. And we can honestly take no part of the glory. The only glory we can accept is the glory of knowing the One true, Holy, Incredible God.

Am I making sense?
We can do nothing; to do is not our purpose. To put it another way, it's not our job. Our job is to know God. To really know Him. Isn't that incredibly relieving..and yet also humbling, and almost unbelievable.

One other thought that recently slapped me in the face in an incredible fashion: Yahweh loves us. He loves me. He loves me more than I can ever even imagine imagining. His grace and His love goes so beyond what I've ever even dreamed of. No matter what He loves me. No matter where I am, no matter what I've done. No matter what you've done. No matter where you are. Can you get that through your head? I know that sometimes I can better than other times. But it's such a huge deal.

The Star Breather Loves us. and He wants us to know Him.

To Revise, Is To Realize.

Well, I'm not exactly sure how much I want to say right now. So I'll just give you a peek at what I've been learning lately..

1. Satan really does want me to fail.
2. Jesus is always there, even when I can't see Him at all.
3. It's not all about me. In fact, it's not even about me at all.
4. I've been sitting back for too long.

I think I've been learning more than that. But that's all I'll share for now.
All I know is that my faith is really being tested. But I'm determined to win the battle. One day at a time, and with Jesus carrying me through every step. I've realized I can't do anything on my own; and life is pretty much miserable when I even try to. But I've also realized that I have to control my own emotions, and I have to decide to hold on to the truth. I'm finding that no matter how many times a lie is screamed, it won't [and it can't] change the truth. And I'm realizing I need to ignore the lies.

I'm ready to start doing big things. I may say that a lot, [especially with all the excitement of a new year] but this time one of the big things I do, is going to be not falling back into a lazy state. Time is too valuable. God has such big plans, and awesome things in store. Are we..am I..going to just sit back and miss out because I'm comfortable? [I've actually become quite uncomfortable recently] No. I'm not.

Won't you join me?

So it all began with a chocolate raindeer head..

Okay, so I'll be honest, this blog has nothing to do with the title. haha. :]

It's the new year and it seems that the thing to do is make a resolution. Come up with something that you're going to do throughout the year to make yourself, or your life, better. And I'm not going to lie, I've been thinking a lot about what needs to change in my life. And I've realized a lot.

Sometimes as a growing Christian I seem to get so caught up in myself. All it takes is one little mishap and I feel as if I'm worth nothing. [which is true regardless] But I all too soon forget that Jesus makes me worth something. He gives me the strength to be something.

I've also noticed during my recent examining; that I'm struggling with the same thing I've been struggling with for a long time. Trust. Why is it so hard to trust the God of the universe with my life? I like to convince myself that I've given things to God. But it seems that the very next time something comes up, I grab everything back out of His hand. [have you seen "The Stool" video?] Why do I do that? Honestly, I have no idea. But I do know something..

God knows that we're not perfect. He made us with the ability to make our own choices so that we wouldn't be His robots. And we chose to disobey and be sinners. I cannot do anything right on my own.
But that's why I have Jesus. He gave me the gift of grace. I once heard a youth pastor say something like, "So often we become obsessed with trying to be just like Jesus. We can't! It's impossible to be just like Him..we are sinners." Which I agree with completely. I can never measure up to what God would require.
That's why I have Jesus. I am made perfect in my weakness because His strength shines through. He promises to be everything I'll ever need. He'll never leave me. And He always forgives me when I come to Him.
The hardest part for me, is remembering that. A million different songs have been popping up as I've been dealing with my recent struggles. And one that I heard today, by Relient K, said:
~I've a reputation, for replacing, my confidence with fear.~
Boy did Matt hit me right on the head with that one! :) So much lately I've been questioning everything. And it makes me afraid. I seem to *know* everything that God promises. But I freak myself out by thinking it's hard to actually *believe* it. Wrong again.
[i know I'm getting kinda lengthy, but I'm almost finished. i promise ;)]
Faith is not feeling. I actually looked up the word last night in our family's dictionary. And it's definition pretty much said "trusting without reason" [okay that was a paraphrase. but it was the point. i promise. lol] And it was like a light went off! It is not always easy to trust God. But I know that I know that I know He always keeps His word. One thing that He also promised is that being a Christian is not always easy. In fact, it's super hard sometimes. But that's where we insert the trust factor. And when we trust Him, when it's hard, is when He shows us some super stellar stuff. So even though it's hard, I'm going to hold on to the fact that I'm not believing in some made up fantasy. My God is real, and He does do awesome stuff. And He does love me.

~We are healing But it's killing us inside Can we take a chance? When faith and fear collide We can make it Step out and take it We can't live feeling so numb How long can we hold on? Can we hold on? Hold on There's something deep inside That keeps my faith alive When all you can doIs hide from the fear That's deep inside of you Something, something, something Something, something, something To hold me close when I don't know There's something deep inside That keeps my faith alive~
Skillet-Collide