Joy in Encouragement

God is so good! As I sit here on my day off relaxing, my heart is bursting with joy just reflecting of all the ways I've been blessed. Family, friends, churches, etc... the list could go on and on. This post will probably be stream of consciousness because of that.. just to warn you.. so hold on :)

A verse that has been running in circles around me the last few days is Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." My youth pastor spoke on Hebrews my junior year of high school, and ever since, I've had that verse stuck in my head. Not that its a bad thing ;)

But really, God has been faithful, He never fails. I had plans for my future, He had different plans... let me be the first to tell you this; His were far better :) I had plans for where I would settle down and start life; His plans were better. I had plans for so many things... and as His plan for my life spans out, I learn more every single day that His plans are far better than any of mine, and blessings flow like the endless water I drink everyday. Encouragement finds me at just the right time, every time. And even though my  human natures gives way to sin, doubt, worry, etc., He is always right there when I fall back into His arms knowing I've failed. Human nature is like that though, we fail. In our young adult group the other day, we were talking about the seven woes in Matthew 23 on The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. They were hypocrites (just like us..), bound by their works instead of faith. They were even called children of hell in the passage. We find our worth in the things we do too sometimes, but really our identity is in Christ Himself and we just can't accept that its enough. How foolish is that.. The God of the Universe created us, knows us, and sent His very own son to die for us, so we could live with Him in eternity. What more do we need to prove our worth? And yet we forget that. Anyway, the thing that got to me most about the passage is that these people were trying so hard to be like Christ that they were forgetting to just be with Him. Have you ever found yourself trying so hard to not do this, to do that, to say this, or to act a certain way because we know its right and godly, but its just so hard, and we fail... and we feel terrible. But, what we forgot, is to spend time with Christ in prayer, Bible reading, or just in quiet. Think about your friends, or people in general... don't they rub off? If you're around people for a long enough period of time, you start to be like them; mannerisms rub off, speech rubs off, thoughts rub off, and pretty soon you're in tune with each other. When we spend time with Christ, we start to be more and more like Him. My youth pastor used to say "when you stop reading the Bible, you stop thinking like Christ" and I believe that whole heartedly. If we would stop trying so hard to be like Him, and just be with Him, that's when His likeness will rub off. I'm not saying to stop trying to be like Christ altogether, but we often try too hard, and get discouraged as a result. Just remain in Him. Bask in Him. Love Him... Spend time with Him. He'll rub off on you.

Remain in Him.. John 15 tells us that if we remain in Him, and He in us, we bear fruit. Yes, its that simple. (Crying over the simplicity of things is ok to do, by the way.. :). That, along with the reminder to just be with Him are some of the most encouraging things I've heard lately. "Just be with Him" ..its encouraging to know that we don't have to rely on our works, isn't it? Just be with Him.