Are we too busy?

We can’t become too busy for God. We just can’t. 

The second we become too busy for Him is the second we lose ourselves. Who we are, our being, our self-worth, rests in Him. Once we lose sight of that, we might as well just stop. Life without Him is rough and quite frankly, pointless. We can’t forget that. Life gets busy, I get that and i fully am living that right now. Balancing work, my friends, my family, my sorority, and my job is hell. It is one of the hardest things to do; knowing who should be first on your “spend time with” list and prioritizing whether or not to study for greek mythology or to go out…but honestly when life gets rough and life gets busy we need to remember why we are here. And more importantly who put us here. God put us here and He loves us so much. It’s cliché to say that, but it is so true. He was crucified to set us free, and we can’t even find a moment to talk to Him throughout the day. Not in any way that we should feel obligated, as if we owe Him, but we come to Him because we’re grateful and amazed and in awe of His holy being. To think of everything He has done for us, and all of the little individual blessings He puts in EVERYBODY’S life, it simply amazes me. That right there is 100%, real, unconditional, never-ending love. Think about it, all of those little things throughout the day that make you smile, or that make your day suck less…yeah, God knew that and He put it there. 

So much of the time we simply give credit of those little things to chance. Chance did not put that there, God did. He knows us so well! He knows what makes us laugh and what makes us cry. He knows even the smallest thing and the simplest of thoughts that we’re thinking. When you think about it, it’s romantic. He goes out of the way to see us smile. He does little things throughout our day to make us happy. Some people may think they have a terrible life; they have no money, have to work what seems like 24/7 to make ends meet and even then it’s not enough. And I know through the hard times it seems impossible to see God or feel Him near or even sense that He cares. But i tell you, HE DOES. Don’t ever give up, don’t ever lose sight of Him, because He is there for us 24/7, 365 days per year. Having a relationship with God, just like any other relationship, is not a one-way street. Both sides have to work at it. He does all of these things for us, and in return we need to yearn for Him and grow closer to Him and make the effort. We cannot expect our relationship with Christ to simply just happen and be perfect. God gets it, we are NOT perfect. In fact we aren’t even close. We mess up, we go down the ‘wrong path,’ we say things we shouldn’t, think things we shouldn’t, look at things we shouldn’t, etc. But God gets it! 

That’s the great thing of God is that He gets us! He knows that we will be tempted and that we will give in, but He still loves us. In all of our failures and all of our mistakes and every single one of our dark moments, He loves us. It’s as simple as that. He will never stop loving us and He will never stop wanting us. So when you’re alone, in that dark moment, remember this: you are not alone. No matter how depressed or angry you are, He is there waiting patiently for you to come to Him. With all this said, Christ’s love and mercy that is given to us, yes given. Just because He gives us this love and mercy does not mean that we can just go around doing wrong things and then come and ask forgiveness only to repeat the cycle. His mercy is not a loophole, it’s a way out. A way out of the sinful life that we live, the sinful life that is so tempting and beautiful, but it’s deceiving! 

Living with Christ as the center of your life is the only way life will ever make sense. And that’s just how it is.

Let It Rain

"The Lord reigns, let the Earth be glad. 

Let the distant shores rejoice; clouds and thick darkness surround Him.

Righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne.

Fire goes before Him and consumes His foes on every side.

His lightning lights up the world. The Earth sees and trembles, the mountains melt like wax before the Lord.

Before the Lord of all the Earth, the heavens proclaim His righteousness, and all people will see His glory!"

**I cannot take credit for such a powerful and amazing passage. It comes from the song "Let It Rain" by Michael W. Smith. In the middle of his song, it gets quiet and a man begins speaking this. He speaks it with such passion and excitement that you cannot help but fall to your knees to worship the Lord.

Grief is...

Grief

Grief is something that never leaves you.

It’s that reoccurring thought that you have at night.

It’s the nightmare that you relive, over and over again.

It’s that feeling in your heart that words can’t describe.

Grief is deceitful and intimidating.

It’s more powerful than anything you can imagine.

It surrounds you like raindrops in a storm.

It is always with you, like a breeze on a windy day.

Grief encompasses your mind.

It changes your thoughts.

It transforms who you are.

It eliminates beauty in places you never realize.

Grief is the strongest weapon.

It attacks your mind.

It destroys your heart.

It diminishes your hope.

Grief is standing on that hill and looking over the destruction.

It’s realizing that nothing will ever be the same.

It’s sitting alone crying at night, yearning for things to be normal.

It’s trying to hide the pain, when in reality it’s more obvious than blood on a white shirt.

Grief is lying in bed, staring at the ceiling wondering why.

It’s smothering your face with the pillow, trying to muffle your sobs.

It’s sitting with you head between your knees, shaking, trying to breathe.

It’s kneeling on the ground, crying out to God and trying not to be angry with him.

Grief is sitting by the tombstone.

It’s feeling the dew of the grass on your knees.

It’s staring at the grave, realizing that they are really gone.

It’s feeling the coldness of the tombstone and feeling that same coldness in your heart.

Grief is deciding whether it’s better to remember, or erase the memories.

It’s flipping through old pictures.

It’s gripping your heart, as your life flashes before you in your mind.

It’s remembering all of the jokes with your best friend.

Grief doesn’t even have to be a physical death.

It’s someone losing a job.

It’s someone losing a friend.

It’s having a major part of you taken away… forever.

Grief can be subdued, but it will never be eliminated.

It’s waking up in the morning and trying to muster up the willpower to move.

It’s being motivated for your family.

It’s making the decision whether it’s easier to live or not.

Grief only wins if you give up.

It’s struggling everyday to continue on.

It’s being looked at differently by people.

It’s learning to deal with the new life that has been handed to you.

Grief changes…everything.