Moving forward...

Oh hello, reader.
Apparently it's been nearly two years since I made a blogpost.

The last post I made was when my Uncle died. It was the beginning of one of the hardest years for my family: More deaths, cancer, open-heart surgery, the list seemed never ending... Through it all, God showed His love. I still look back in amazement at how He brought us through such a hard time and made us stronger for it.

I've been looking back a lot - it's crazy how things change. How people change. How you change.

Isn't time a funny thing? This crazy concept that God placed in our lives, that we can't control, that always moves forward.

This morning I was reading Proverbs 4:18, "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day."

How often I've wished I could go back in time, even just for a moment - to fix a mistake, to give one last hug to a very dear friend who passed, to tell 'old-Clareesa' to get her head screwed on right - but that's not the way God created us.

He didn't create us to look back. He created us to move forward.





And the path He laid out for us - it just gets better until we see Him face to face.


Every morning one of my favorite things to do is open the curtains and let that morning light in - it's always beautiful. What a wonderful example for Proverbs 4:18!

I found myself challenged this week of having a mindset of straining toward what is ahead. It's too easy to get stagnate where we are, or to look back, and forget that God has an wonderful plan for those who love Him. A wonderful plan - moving forward, not backward.

For me, it often starts with how I start my day. Am I starting my day in God's Word? Is my heart in the right place? Am I going through the motions? Or am I looking toward Him, continuing down the path of righteousness?

I wish I could say each morning I did great - but I don't. I'm still trying, learning, striving, failing, being forgiven, and moving forward.

Anyways, just my jumbled thoughts of day... :)

*   *   *

Stretching far beyond the ocean

Higher than every mountain top

Love incomprehensible

Glory unimaginable 

I turn and shake my hand toward the heavens

"Why?" I cry

"Why is it so? I can't go on."

I hang my head

Silence answers my plea.

"Is there nothing more?"

I scream louder

"Help me. Help me. Or let me die."

My words hang heavy in my heart

Warmth

I lift my tear-soaked eyes

Rays of sun beat down

The first gleam of dawn

Casting it's rays around me

I fall to my knees

"It's so hard." I sob

I wipe the tears that have clouded my view

A path?

How did I not see it before?

Beams of light streak across the ground

Calling me

Calling me down the path

Calling me toward the light

Calling me toward His warmth

It won't be easy

This I know

But it will be worth it

For there is so much more

Love, overcoming my doubts

Glory, erasing my fear

Love, drawing me in

Glory, humbling my heart

Love, erasing my sins

Glory, to His name forever.

Amen.

I failed.

     It's amazing how easily you can make the same mistake multiple times. It's human nature I guess.
     This past month or two(give or take) I have failed. A lot.
     We all fail. We're human. Sinners.
     But I am oh, so grateful for God's grace, mercy and abundant forgiveness!
     I have spent weeks trudging through life, sometimes happy, sometimes sad...searching for something. But through it all I was letting myself get distracted from Christ. Just little distractions, but distractions I didn't get rid of.
     Through a series of events over the past week or so I realized just how much I'd like these distractions become the determining factor or how I felt or acted.
      But even when you realize you're in the wrong and you've failed, it's still not easy to get rid of the cause. At all.
      And I fought it for a few days-which put me in a REALLY bad mood.
      When you don't listen to God's still small voice...sometimes He'll give you something you won't be able to ignore. Usually something you won't enjoy at the time. And that's what happened.
      I guess you could call it a wake up call.
       And it kinda hurt.
      But it's what it took to remember, once again, how I had been letting these little things get in the way of following Christ with EVERY part of me.
   
      Don't get distracted. It can be anything. A job, a relationship, a friend, money, parties....if we let anything take priority in our minds above Christ... well... obviously something needs to change.
     Christ should be our #1 focus. AT ALL TIMES.
     And those things that are distractions, whether or not they in themselves or bad or not....need to be kicked out the door.
      We can tell ourselves that they aren't distractions, but that won't solve the problem.

     Just man up and get rid of them!
     Often times it will hurt. In fact, I can almost guarantee it will hurt. And you'll be tempted to go back even after you get rid of them. BUT IT'S NOT WORTH IT.


       Our happiness, our joy, isn't found in the day to day distractions of life. It's found in Christ. It's found in the hope He gave us for eternal life by dying for our sins. It's found in pursuing and serving Christ every moment of the day. And when those distractions come, it's turning away and seeking Christ all the more.


       What's distracting you today?
        I failed. I got distracted.
        Will you?

Run!

     Last Sunday we had an excellent and very convicting sermon on Hebrews 12:1-3(Verse at bottom of post) about running the race of the Christian life. 

     It's not easy to follow Christ. It's not easy to run the race. To fight the fight. Because that's what living for Christ is, it's a continuous battle. It WILL take endurance. But though it's hard, though it will never be easy, though there will be pain and suffering... there is peace and joy!

     2 Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

     Running the race for Christ means turning away from things of this world. Turning away from things that distract us. So many things in our lives become a distraction, even if they aren't necessarily bad things...but they take our focus off Christ and become a sin. We can't keep those distractions and serve Christ at the same time. (Matt 6:24, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.)

     We have to turn completely away from those distractions. COMPLETELY. And turn towards Christ. Seek him FULLY. Take Peter for example, when he walked out on water to meet Jesus. When he took his focus off of Jesus, he began to sink.

     We.can't.take.our.focus.off.Christ. We must run away from distractions and run towards Christ.

     The past month God has been continually teaching me this. When you follow Christ, 100%, it's...wow. Life changing. 

     We are called to fix our eyes on Christ. To consider Him carefully. To endure the pain.

     Focus on Christ. Run the race. Fight the fight.

     This video is really challenging/encouraging. Take the time and watch it.

     Then Run.

     Run.

     Run for the race for Christ.

Heb 12:1-3, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."