2/28/15

Nothing satisfies my soul quite like Jesus does. I find that most days my heart is overwhelmed and aching for various things. Sometimes it's for little things and other times because there's so much going on with how fast-paced life can be. It's easy to lose my footing in the middle of such a rush.

 Some days there are small victories, like seeing a familiar face or doing well in class. But these things only bring a fleeting happiness with them. They don't have the capacity to sustain me for more than a few hours, much less a lifetime.

But in the quiet moments where I stop and rest, my soul finds more satisfaction than it did when I was striving and working. 

It's when I experience how these things don't satisfy that I am reminded of who really does. There is a far greater victory that is guaranteed. More often than not, this victory seems far off. But I am reminded that it's not dependent on me and that it is through Jesus that I am already victorious.

When I feel like I'm falling behind in the race that the world is running, He stoops down beside me and gently reminds me: "It's not them you're running for. You are in a different race.."

I remember my Savior who was well acquainted with deep sorrow and how he fixed his eyes on an eternal reward.

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you."

Isaiah 26:3

2-14-15

It always amazes me how God invites us to share in daily disappointments and frustrations so that we can have a more complete picture of his glory.

These earthly sorrows are far more than the inconveniences that we perceive them as. As the Bible says, "they are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far outweighs them all." All of our little sorrows serve as daily reminders that we live in a broken world, but also point us to the eternal kingdom that has been won and promised to all who believe. Now that is God's glory being revealed one trial at a time.

It's incredible to me and often times overwhelming how broken the world is. It's hard to know that there was a perfect design but because of our sinfulness we continue to distort and misunderstand that original plan. But what is more incredible to me is how all of those broken fragments point directly to hope through Jesus... how each broken piece serves to reflect a different facet of God into our hearts.

"Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God."
Psalm 43:3,4

Lord, keep teaching me how to continuously worship in all circumstances.