Day 123: Overwhelmed

Sometimes I'm just plain overwhelmed.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be blessed with some of the things in my life now, I probably would've laughed in your face. If anyone had told me that I would be plugged in to a house church that is completely sold out to following Christ, or if I would be leading worship there, or working in the children's ministry, or traveling to Haiti, I would not have believed you.

Isn't that usually how God works?

In my life, God has sustained me with the people that he surrounds me with, and the gifts that he gives me. He has enabled me to grow in a church that has grown by the thousands since I first encountered it. And he has helped me to be unafraid at meeting new people, and really digging in deep with them.

He has made me unashamed.

But, he still sees me where I am and knows my heart. He still bears with me when I fall into the sins of my past, or when I let the world, and people in it, tell me that I am worth less than what he says of me.

But he is faithful, in the midst of all of my issues. He has never left me. He will never leave me.

God is constantly reminding me of his sovereignty, and his providence. He is not a God that will be manipulated, or cheapened. He is a God who shows mercy and saves us by grace. He is a God that wants all of me, or none of me.

There is no room for the lukewarm.

And so that is my mission. I need to be a woman who is sold out for what I believe in, and not only that, but who is rock solid in the foundation of who my God is. I can't be the woman who is flippant about the word of God, or reads her bible sometimes.

If I want to know who my God is, I need to dig in and SEE FOR MYSELF. I need to get my hands dirty, searching through scripture so that when I am met with opposition, I do not wither like a weak flower, but stand upright like a tree firmly rooted.

I encourage you, Christian, to look at what God has given you, and to really examine if you realize how great these blessings are and if you really understand where they come from. God is teaching me that knowing who he is the entire point.

If I asked you to tell me who God is, or what Jesus did, or why any of it matters, could you tell me? If I didn't know Jesus, would you know the first thing to say to me?

I'm not writing this to intimidate, but to encourage everyone to actually know, and live, the faith that you so desperately defend. We are responsible to articulate the hope that we have in us.

God doesn't need a defender, but he wants a witness.

That witness is you, and me.

But to witness, we have to see him clearly.

Let his very presence overwhelm us.

In Christ,

Lilia