Before I get into the meat of this blog post, can I just say Thank You!
To all of you who read this blog, to all of you who share my posts with your friends, to all of you who open my emails, to all of you who comment and talk to me, to all of you who find value in what I write: I am so grateful for you. You are all the reason I started writing this blog and are the reason I continue to do so.
This post is significant to me in more than one way, but in large part because this is number 31! Your views, your comments, your shares and your love have pushed me to write 31 blog posts, when I wasn't even sure I had two in me at the beginning of this. So, thank you, my dear readers, and here's to many more to come!
A truth that's come out of this reflection process I am going through is I have a hard time trusting God with my life and my heart. I have always wanted to be one of those truly trusting people, who sees the good in everyone.
But I've listened to enough Lore podcasts and read the descriptions of enough horror movies (I can't actually watch them because they freak me out a little too much) to know sometimes the nice person sitting next to you at the coffee shop is a serial killer. Sometimes there are monsters in the closet or under our beds trying to get us, or worse, trying to hurt us.
How does this relate to trust, you may ask? When I am in a spirit of not trusting the Lord with my life, my choices, my daily to-do list, or my heart, I struggle to see the positive side of things. Instead, my mind is filled with what-ifs, what-could-have-beens, and what-do-I-do-nows, or the monsters trying to get us.
In short, my focus is pulled from the peace-giving presence of Christ to the scary realities I face without him.
I am not saying my salvation is in any way altered or changed by my focus shifting away from Christ. It is our choice to put our trust in God and daily look to him for guidance, peace, wisdom, and general spiritual well-being.
I truly believe once you truly have confessed your sin, recognized your need for Jesus in your heart, and genuinely surrendered yourself to him, there is nothing on earth or in heaven or anywhere else, for that matter, that can pluck you from the hand of God.
To alter the saying about the Marine Corps, once a child of God, always a child of God. (Side-note: If you don't know anything about what I'm saying, I encourage you to speak to a pastor further about this!)
What I am saying is it is hard to see the daily reality of Christ when we aren't turning toward him and trusting him with our daily needs. For some of us, (points at myself) we need an almost hourly reminder to turn back to the Lord, to see his gracious hand moving in our lives in big and small, but always significant, ways.
We so easily stray from his loving arms, and so quickly blame him for our struggles.
Can I challenge you today to see the struggles you're facing as opportunities to trust the Lord? This is not an easy thing to do, and if you're sitting there thinking, Well, that's easy for you to sit there and write, Jennifer, but where's the proof that you're doing it too?
I am as much writing this for you as I am for me today. When we see hardship in our lives, let us run to a God who truly cares about our struggles, not to the darkened corner of a room to escape the vicious monsters under our beds.
Before I go today, I'd like to hear from you. All of you! Email me, find me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and message me, comment on the blog. But answer these two questions for me:
1. What are the things you are most struggling with in your life right now?
2. What would you most like to see written about on the blog?
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