Living Life for Christ Alone

"Where are you?"   She hears, but is afraid to come out of the shadows, for she knows that if she walks into the light that is inseparable from the One who called her, her sin and imperfections will be exposed.  "What if He doesn't love me anymore?"  She asks herself, fearing that all she's known of Him will be proven untrue. His footsteps come closer. He calls her by name. His voice filled with tender love.  His light shines on the trees around her, maker her shadowy hiding place a little more conspicuous.  She remembers the many times He has held her in the past as she wept over her pain. His kindness towards her fills her mind, and she knows that she can't live without Him. If she must go on, she must be exposed to the light, however uncomfortable.  Really, what does she have to lose if she has Him? Or on the contrary, what does she have to gain if she loses Him? She steps out of hiding. The light catches first her feet, and then there in plain sigh...

I want to serve Jesus. This desire has been mine since my youth.  Maybe this is just a millennial thing (or maybe it's not), but we millennials want to be passionate about something and to go big or go home. We want to change the world. I took that millennial thing and went "Christian" with it.  I wanted to be a missionary and make a huge impact somewhere so that I could come home and talk about it.  I wanted to leave a legacy that no one would miss.  I wanted to be remembered as someone who made a difference. I wanted to feel like I was accomplishing something important for Jesus.  I often pictured showing up before that great throne one day with much luscious, spiritual fruit to offer Christ to show for how my life was spent on this earth.  I feared not having enough to give Him.  But marriage and motherhood has put huge cracks in this dream. They caused me to pause and have to rethink what is actually valuable.  What do I mean by that? Were tho...

Nothing.  That's all it was. But soon that nothingness was radically changed, simply by a command.  "Let there be light," and there was light. Within six days, nothing became something. Something incredible. Sky, earth, stars, sea, animals, fish, insects, plants... and best of all, humans. Made in the image and likeness of their Maker. He looked over His creation, pleased. "It is good."