Thirst

What do you thirst for?

For me, most of the time it's water. Yes, haha, I know it's funny. But truthfully, it's more like water and coffee, considering those are the only two drinks I intake on a daily basis.

⁸ Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
   and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
⁹ for he satisfies the thirsty
   and fills the hungry with good things. 
Psalm 107:8-9

I like drinking. I don't like being thirsty. Physically or spiritually.

For the past few days I have felt a thirst spiritually. I want more and more of the Father. I have this longing and desire to know him for intimately. What do I do? Pray. Seek Him. Fill my mind and heart with his words. I ended up reading the word a lot and hiding some in my heart too!

I pray that my thirst will never be quenched fully. But He is the living water. Drink Him in.

HEAR, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God, save your servant who trusts in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to call who call to you. Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.
Psalm 86:1-6

Read those lines again, slower. Soak in the cry that David brings to the Lord. 

These verses encompass all the my prayers have been lately. God is so good and so awesome! But right now, this is how I have been praying. I feel silly really, because I have a blessed life. I am abundantly blessed. I don't understand it at all. The things that God keeps telling me through others is positive. Man, I just don't feel like it all though.

My security does not lie in what others tell me nor do those things give me strength to carry on. My King has told me the truths that I am living in. I'm human; I forget. 

Last week, I was talking to God in church and I was just expressing my heart to Him. I was repenting for sin and asking for forgiveness. And you know what God said? He goes, "Eh, you're human. It's okay. You have repented. I forgive you." The God of the universe said that to me. 

We are given a chance to be in relationship with God. Don't take it for granted. 

If Psalm 86 is your cry to God right now, I just want to encourage you that His grace is sufficient. Rest in that. 

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Maybe I Care Too Much...

I was having an argument with a friend the other day about caring too much. We both have huge, compassionate hearts. I said that I don't think someone can care too much for another person. What I do think though is that we have a hard time seeing the line in which we take it on caring as our responsibility.

I know responsibility is something I tend to talk about a lot, but it's because it's what God is teaching me right now. Our actions are things that we have to take responsibility for. They aren't something we can beat around the bush about...or say didn't happen. I don't care if you're the only person that really knows what happened, you have to own up to it. There are consequences for our actions, whether we choose to acknowledge them or not.


Sometimes the consequences are not good, and sometimes they are great.


A lot of times I get caught between caring and taking responsibility. I can name so many times when this has been my dilemma. Fortunately, I serve a God that says that it's not my responsibility.


With Thanksgiving coming up, there has been a lot of talk about what we are thankful for and how we can express that. The forgiveness that God has given us has been a tremendous blessing. He has always shown us forgiveness that we don't deserve. It's mind boggling to me. How does the God of the Universe care so much about us all the time? Even when we sin and choose to look away from Him. He promises us in His Word that he will never leave us nor forsake us. We are the ones that turn from Him and ignore Him. He ALWAYS cares. He has literally taken the entire worlds sin upon himself for us.

Who am I to question whether I care too much? 

I don't understand why, but God loves us and cares for each of us so much. He is the only one we can turn to when we care. It really comes down to trusting Him. 

It's hard for me to trust God with my friends and family; the people that I care for. 

It's easy for me to trust Him with me. 

Because I've seen His provision and faithfulness in my life. 

But I need to practice trusting God with everyone else. 

His faithfulness is going to look different in each person's life, because he knows how to best get through to them. 

Who am I to question what He is going to do with them? 

This past weekend I was in Grove Coffee and one of my regulars came in with his wife. We got to talking and he asked if I needed prayer. In the middle of the day, we stopped and he prayed for me. Right there, in the coffee shop. Unashamed. That shows that he and his wife care for me; my heart and my walk with Christ. That is also the best way to show you care and trust God with someone. 

There is a point where we have to let go, trust God with that person and just pray. 

Pray Until Something Happens. 

I am a firm believer in prayer and that God answers prayers. That is how God shows me His faithfulness. Don't question whether you care to much, question whether you're praying enough. If you care, you should be taking your caringness to the only one that can do anything about it. 

Just pray. Pray without ceasing.

Authenticity

I'm sitting in my classroom at ASU Downtown Phoenix waiting for my professor to get here. 

I'm tired and didn't want to get out of bed this morning. 

My schedule is jam packed this weekend. Literally. I will have no time at all. 

And this morning I got an extra shot in my latte. 

The craziness hasn't even started yet.

This is my life. 

Solution: Prayer. Lots and lots of it. 

Ephesians 6:18 tells us...

         And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

 

 

 I will pray. I will be in constant communication with my bestest friend, Jesus. I cannot live without his strength. Especially this weekend. But I'm excited. Because I know that when I talk to him, he listens. Trust me, there are ALL kinds of prayers and requests goin up to him right now. 

And the thing is, I know that Satan is lurking right around the corner. He's looking for an open spot to attack. But he won't be able to, cause I'm keeping my eyes on Jesus. I've clothed myself in the full armor of God. I'm living in the truth (and drinking a lot of coffee!). I am staying alert; watching, waiting, ready for the attack. 

 

 

God will protect me. 

He always does. 

Don't be afraid to admit this kind of stuff. People respond so much better to you being real, authentic and genuine. If you're having a bad day and someone asks you how you are, say that you're having a bad day. If they don't ask why, someone else will. The best way for you to live out your life is to be real. That's what God has called us to do. Who are we disobey? He gave us life. Live it to the very fullest. 

 

You NEVER know who will respond when you are willing to be authentic. 

 

A Shred of Dignity

So, I really like that title. Not sure why. It really has nothing to do with this post. Sorry it's taken me so long to write again. Life has been a bit crazy, which isn't unusual. But, for some reason, I just haven't felt inspired to write. Honestly, I've missed it. I've been running from one thing to the next for so long that when I get a break, all I want to do is sit and veg. God ended up telling me that that wasn't a good use of my time. Duh, shouldn't figured that out on my own. But whatever. Now I know :) 

A lot of what I've been learning lately has to do with seeing the small things and appreciating them the way they were intended to be appreciated. God was talking to me about that recently after a sermon by my college pastor. He was talking about listening to the still small voice; seeing the presence of God is hard for most people, they tend to see the absence of God more often. 

My goal since then is to see God in the little things. Being aware of those small things changes your perspective. I'll give you some examples. 

I was a little later to school today (and by later, I mean I was here only 20 minutes early rather than half an hour), so I wasn't sure if I was going to get a good parking spot. I decided to take it up with the Big Man. I simply asked that he would provide me with a parking spot not too far from my class. What did I get? the parking spot that I really wanted. :) 

Last Wednesday, I was asked to ref a tournament because I was highly recommended; I was asked to house sit for 2 nights; and I was asked to babysit. What I didn't realize until the weekend was that I asked God to bless me in ways that I wasn't aware that I needed. This weekend, I needed that. There were unexpected expenses that came up and I was able to pay for all of them because God provided and blessed me. To me, the small thing was that God answered that prayer in 2 days. AND I didn't even realize I needed it. 

Look for God in the small things, you'll be able to see his presence even better in those, because you'll be one of the few looking for it.