Living Life for Christ Alone

It is so easy to assume certain things about God, to assume certain things about the way He views me.  This meditation below encouraged my heart along this line of thought this morning.  Be encouraged as you read along. Maybe read it as though you yourself had written it.  I needed it. It lifted my heart towards Him.  May it do the same for you.  "...He rescued me because He delights in me." (Psalm 18:19) HE delights in me: The God of the Universe. The King of kings. The sinless, perfect One. The One who sees all and knows all. The One who sees me. The One whose glance makes the earth tremble and whose touch makes the mountains smoke. The One who needs only to utter a word and things are created out of nothing, miracles happen, lives are forever changed. He DELIGHTS in me: That God (the only God) delights in me. He smiles when He thinks of me. There is pleasure in His heart over me. He rejoices over me with singing.  I bring Him joy. He is not sad about me,...

It had been a long week full of challenges for me. I don't remember what all the challenges were, but the main thing I remember is that I’d had many moments of overwhelm, many moments where I wondered if I could make it through another day of more of the same.   But now, as I trudged onto the beach, a sense of joy flooded my soul. Here I was, in one of my “happy places”, alone with God.   You see, Kevin had given me the morning off to spend some time alone with Jesus while he watched the girls. I knew where I wanted to go, how I wanted to use that time. I was going to take a long, long, long, uninterrupted walk along the beach. Just me and Jesus.   The waves crashed, the white sand glistened in the sunlight, the sounds of seagulls could be heard, the smell of salty water filled the air, and I felt a sense of awe settling over my soul. I looked around at others there and wondered if they felt it too. How could they not? This was God’s creation, awesome beauty for all ...

 "Blessed be... the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation..." -2 Corinthians 1:3-4 All  leaves nothing out.  Perhaps my greatest tribulation at the moment is a mere backache. Or perhaps the time comes when the backache seems like nothing next to extreme loss.  Perhaps the tribulation is a battle in the mind- perplexities, emotions that pull all different directions, confusing thoughts, lies... Or perhaps it is outward circumstances that have you confused.  Perhaps it's extreme difficulty. But more often than not, our tribulations come in small packages that on the outside don't appear very threatening, until we find ourselves overwhelmed afresh with our own inability to take another step.  Whatever the tribulation may be, in every one of them, Jesus draws near in order to comfort. Never will He speak words of condemnation to the soul in distress. His aim is to encourage -which is to infuse with courage - so tha...