Our Journey Together

I remember talking to a friend of mine a few years ago and she was telling me about her older sister. Her sister is one of those people (and we all know people like this!) that seemingly has everything all together. She had the perfectly clean and decorated house, the most romantic and sensitive husband and the greatest relationship with the Lord. She's one of those people that I don't think anyone could say anything bad about her; she was simply a good person. I remember my friend saying "well, she does deserve it. I mean, she gets up every morning and does devotions and prays and you can just see God echoed in every area of her life." I can still recall my thoughts like it was yesterday:

"What does she mean she deserves it?? What does that have to do with devotions and prayer and having the perfect life??"

"I do devotions to, you know! I guess it's more like I crack my Bible open every once in a while and try to get something out of it. My life isn't perfect though and I doubt someone would say that God is echoed in even most areas of my life."

"What am I doing wrong? How do I change?"

Fast forward a few years to a couple of months ago. Jason and I had just decided that we wanted to attend Harvest Bible Chapel and that we really wanted to make the effort to get involved, so that Thursday night we found ourselves at the young adults small group. We broke into guys and girls groups to do accountability and I was really blown away as a young woman shared about how she was being kept accountable for doing her devotions. She said that a friend of hers would call her every morning early to make sure that she was up and in the Word. Part of me thought it was CRAZY at first...I mean, who really calls each other to give devotional reminders? But I was also really impressed that she took her daily time with God so seriously and it really challenged me. How serious did I take my relationship with my Lord? Was I giving it the time and effort that it deserved? Honestly, no. But I really wanted to make a change and I started immediately.

I have never done morning devotions. I don't think anyone that knows me would even call me a morning person! I let that excuse keep me from studying before work but with a busy schedule I would constantly find myself falling into bed at night thinking "shoot, I forgot to read my Bible today." So I decided to really give morning devotions a shot. I now get up around 30 minutes earlier then I used to, grab some coffee and spend sometime in His presence before my day begins.

My getting serious about my devotions has started a chain reaction in my life. The more effort and time I put into my relationship with Christ, the more that I got to know Him. The more I know Him, the more I believe in Him and want to devote my life to Him.The last thing I want to do is sound cliche but my life has really started to change since my relationship with God has become my priority! I have much more patience at work and I feel like I can see more clearly how I can be a blessing to the children and mom I take care of. My relationship with Jason is getting even stronger and I'm able to be a better wife to him. The greatest thing that I'm experiencing though is a renewed passion for Christ! I've felt like He has pursued me my whole life but as much as I reached out for Him with one hand, I had the world tightly grasped with my other. I know what happens when I control my life...and it is not pretty! I found myself on a road quickly headed for disaster. I have found Who I believe in and it is worth laying my entire life down for. I'm no longer afraid that people find out that I'm a Christian and worried what they might think about me. My greatest desire now is that people see Christ's love in me and that my life could be a testimony for what He can do!