Gain Your Life by Spending it

     I have been running for weeks now in endless circles it seems. There's alway something to replace the last job or assignment that I've finished so that I'm never done. There's projects I forget about and a bonus paper that gets submitted online 5 minutes before midnight. If I don't keep up with my calendar I double book myself. This is not cool at all!
     This last weekend I was able to slow down and have a wonderful weekend with my family. I had a moment to stop running and look around for once. I enjoyed playing games and sitting around chatting. I packed my lil nephew places with me. I went shopping with an awesome sister!All these things I did were so rejuvenating.
      I took a step back from myself to see what I looked like. (It's not a bad thing to do every once in awhile.) I didn't really like what I saw. I was looking at a girl that was absolutely drained! I was becoming ragged from life. Having a long weekend gave me the opportunity to regroup physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
     As I came back to school this week, feeling much better by the way, I was reminded of the scripture in Lamentations 3:22,23  It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.
     It is so easy to get caught up in the rush of humanity. It is so easy to be so focused on doing things for others and pleasing people in our lives that we forget about ourselves and become people who blindly spend our lives away. I'm not saying spending life is a bad thing. It can be a very good thing. Just be careful and make sure your spending it on something worth spending life on. Take time to spend life in a way that builds the soul back up rather than weaken and make it tired. As you go about your day make a conscious effort to "Gain your life by spending it". There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to do this. The Lord is full of compassions, His mercies are new every morning, and He is faithful.
    
     Mark 8:35   For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
      

I Must Rush On

     I started a new job today. I had a NSLS meeting this afternoon. I went to church tonight so I could lead my prayer group. I'm trying to get two papers done.(They're due on Monday!) I'm trying to catch up on Math homework. I'm trying to figure out when and where I can get married... With all this going on I think of something my Aunt says. I must rush on, I must rush on! You say you must rush on? Yes, I must!

The Reality of Faith

     So many things happen in our lives. So many things are unknown. So many things we can't understand. But, there is someone who understands completely. Someone who feels everything we feel. Someone who can see ahead in our future, and knows exactly what we need. His name is Jesus! I love that name. I say it often, and I never get tired of hearing it.
     His ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts, with these earthly eyes we can't always see what He has prepared for us. Trials, frustrations, and pain so cloud our view at times, making it impossible to see. When these situations come, it's so hard to believe that Jesus is in heaven and that God still reigns supreme on the throne. It's so hard to believe something that can cause so much pain, and so many hearts to break, could ever be in the perfect will of the Lord.  This is why we (meaning believers) have faith. This is where it needs to come into play.
     Do you think it was pure accident in Ephesians 6:16 when Paul told the Saints in Ephesus, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench ALL the fiery darts of the wicked"? I sincerely hope you don't think it was accident. The devil would love to get us to stop believing and give up faith. If he makes us stop believing, then he has us right where he wants us! If we don't have faith, we can't overcome the world. 1John 5:4 says,"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
     Faith is an inward thing that has to be outwardly applied. Faith keeps us going even when trials seem endless and pain grips us with such sorrow our soul wills to die. I realize faith is not the gospel in it's entirety, but a portion of the entire gospel. I know faith does not take away the trials in life, and doesn't take all our hurts away. But, sometimes I just need to remember faith is the victory. Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith. In this I find a strange sense of comfort and I lay my trust in the Lord once again because He is on the throne and He sees and Knows ever aspect of my life from beginning to end.
             Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from Him cometh my salvation. Psalms 62:1

In The Night

You wake up breathing hard
From a scary dream you're scared
In the night
You sit up and look around
But no one is to be found
In the night
You may turn on the light
To rid the darkness giving sight
In the night
Now that you can finally see
your worries take their flight and flee
In the night