How beautiful the blood flowed...it never ceases to amaze me @ how God provides moments of opportunity and how important it is to use those precious moments for His glory!
Lately I’ve had some pure moments of opportunity to share my heart with people that mean a lot to me. I’m learning how precious those moments really are. I’m learning so much about friendship and speaking truth to others (and listening to it when they speak it to me!). In June, I decided to try and read the Bible in 90 days for the summer. I’ve never really read the Bible all the way through and It’s not possible to explain what you believe if you don’t really know it, right? Well, I would love to say that I’m on track to finish by the end of August, but I’m not. I’m behind by about 15 days. I’ve been trying to catch up and read multiple days at once, but then I miss days in between. Nonetheless, it would be awesome to complete it in the timeframe I’ve set for myself, but if I don’t so be it, what matters is that I keep plugging along and soak up as much as I can as I go. I’ve already learned so much. I think my new favorite book of the Bible is Leviticus, and yes I totally just said Leviticus! Why you ask…because as the commentary in my Bible puts it: “The first seventeen chapters are all about redemption – the way to God – while the last ten chapters deal with restoration – our walk with God. The resounding theme of all twenty-seven chapters is God’s absolute holiness.” (There is a verse somewhere that talks about God redeeming us, making us holy and by the process of sanctification redeeming us. I read it recently but cannot find it now, if you know it please share the wealth b/c I’m apparently blind to it…) Anyways, the thought of RESTORATION has been at the forefront of my mind lately. I keep thinking about how God is restoring my life, and how is God restoring the lives of my friends. If we’ve come to believe He is God and that Christ died to raise our lives from the ashes then we have been redeemed, but are we being restored? None of us are perfect and we all fall, but are we letting God restore us? are we letting God make us holy? I think restoration is an ongoing process and not until we see our Savior face to face will we see the full restoration, but are we open to it now, here on this earth? I know I can pinpoint specific times in my life, some recently, where I ran from God’s restoration. Times where I knew God wanted to work in my life but I just didn’t want Him to or I felt like I couldn’t handle it. How feeble am I that I couldn’t believe that God would provide the strength He promises! I am “wholly” His child, there is no part of my life/my heart He cannot or has not seen. Hebrews 4:13 says, “Nothing in all the world can be hidden from god. Everything is clear and lies open before him, and to him we must explain the way we have lived.” His blood was shed to give me LIFE, and I don’t want to stand before Him knowing that I wasted His precious blood. So I’m praying that when I feel God moving that I welcome the circumstance. I know that God uses the good, the bad, and the downright ugly for His glory so I can’t wait to see how God uses the circumstances of my life and the circumstances of the lives of my friends to change our world! I think something BIG is coming, and with God I’m ready to see it happen :)
<3 CT
“All that I am, praise the Lord; everything in me, praise his holy name. My whole being, praise the Lord and do not forget all his kindnesses. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He saves my life from the grave and loads me with love and mercy. He satisfies me with good things and makes me young again, like the eagle.” Psalm 103:1-5
