This last weekend was one of the hardest of my life, but through it all God taught me a valuable lesson. I had a very busy Valentine's Day and I thought that having a full schedule would help me ignore all the couples, but instead it had the opposite effect. The fact of the matter is that I spent the entire day trying to ignore the people I was envious of, and it just made everything worse. I told myself that I would spend the day with Jesus, but my times with Him weren't very good at all (I lied in my last post). I was allowing myself and my own desires to get in the way of my relationship with God. My focus was on what I wanted and not on what He wants for me. I couldn't help but think about what Valentine's Day could have been if I hadn't made mistakes in the past, and I really beat myself up on Saturday. I was absolutely miserable and I felt worthless, but Jesus and my friends really picked me back up. I talked to one of my best friend's girlfriend, and she reminded me that just because I've made mistakes in my past doesn't mean that I can't still have a wonderful relationship in the future. Then on Sunday my best friend reminded me that I need to rely on Jesus in my hard times because I do not have the strength to do this on my own. I am so thankful for my friends who are willing to remind me that I need to keep my focus on Jesus. The cry of my heart and the passion in my soul is to run blindly into action for the Lord. I've realized this weekend that I still have a lot of junk inside of me that I haven't given to Jesus yet, and it's going to take some time, but I'm finally going give up the rest of my life to the Lord. I will never become the man that God wants me to be unless I give up the rest of myself. The burden that I've allowed myself to carry is keeping me from putting on the full armor of God, and I'm going to need that armor if I want to be a warrior for Jesus.
Thank you to all of my friends who keep me on the narrow path that leads to Jesus. You all mean the world to me.
~Matt
I'm so glad we were both able to encourage each other when we talked. :-) I pray the armor of God on you almost every day, so now I'll know how to pray even better. I was thinking some of those same things you were on Valentine's Day, about how different it could be. But you know, I am realizing that God has us both just where He wants us. It's going to be hard, but it's going to be a wonderful year. I'm praying for you. :-)
ReplyDeleteI love where God has each of us right now, and even though this year will be difficult; I know this is going to be an incredible year with the Lord. Thanks for praying for me. I'm praying for you too.
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