Skip to main content

Celebrating

blogs.cisco.com

Today, the word celebration is on my heart. Think about it: how many times a year do we just take time to celebrate ourselves and where we are in our journey with Jesus? As I was thinking about it yesterday I realized the answer was a whopping no. I've never taken time to just celebrate where I am and where He's taken me and the things I've been able to do because of Him. How sad this was to discover that I wasn't taking the time to appreciate how far He's taken me from where I was and how He is changing me everyday.


This summer I took a month-long trip to Switzerland and in spite of the beauty landscape and my welcoming family, Jesus held my hand as I walked through a trial. There was almost nothing I could do! I set out to protect my heart from anything that could wrench me from my Savior and into the hands of the world (read: avoiding secular music, television...etc.) and apart from reading the Bible and listening to Christian music and watching Christian movies via Youtube (with lots of cuddling sessions with my cute 6 year old cousin!), I had to sacrifice. I desperately wanted to hang out and spend time with my older cousins, but their secular ways created a barrier between us. Most days I spent alternating between reading the Word, listening to uplifting music, and crying out to God. This gave me strength, along with a few verses in Hebrews 12 which read:
"My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child He loves that He disciplines; the child He embraces, He also corrects. God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them.But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, or course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God." -Hebrews 12:5-11 (MSG)
 You can imagine how I felt when I got home, right? Finally! Home! Where I belong! Where it's easy to be a Christian! But I felt awkward in my own home- not sure if I should embrace it or live the 'martyr' life by never getting comfortable in my surroundings and serving God as I felt Him lead me. This went on until about yesterday, when I reached a point where I would not let myself have fun if I didn't have quiet time or fast or do anything that brought me closer to God. I was miserable. I wanted God's plan for me and had surrendered my life to Him, and now I was caught between a crossroads: 'seeking' Him by depriving myself of the blessings He's given me, or enjoying my life and the blessings He's given me? I chose the latter with joy and told Jesus that He still had my life, and I would do whatever He bid me to do and that I was going to enjoy the blessings He's given me and continue seeking Him each morning with all of my heart...and I also told Satan I would not buy into the lie that I didn't deserve to enjoy the blessings. The enemy whispered lies in my head like, "You can go watch TV....but after you spend three hours with God. (Mind you, I'd just spent the whole morning with Him!)" Things like, "You're not growing any closer to God by doing such and such." I would read Christian biographies and hear, "She gave up everything to follow Him...what are you doing?" Girlfriend, let me tell you, this is a common issue for Christians!  But I'm free from those lies, and you can be too!

rockfordsprings.org

Why is it that we feel guilty for enjoying our blessings? Why is it that we think God wants us to spend all day in a dark closet reading His Word, but secretly wishing we could be doing something else? Why is it that when we start believing these lies we start to become miserable in our walk with God? It's because of this:

Like Joyce Meyer said, "We are not built for guilt." 

She says in her book, Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoes, that when, "...When our ministry takes people to the mission field for the first time, they usually come home after seeing such severe poverty and feel that they should never buy anything again that is not vitally necessary, and that they should give away everything else. We went through the same thing but soon realized that while God was asking us to help the poor, He was not asking us to become poor. People who start to feel guilty after a mission trip and begin to live on what they need to barely get by quickly become unhappy, unless of course God has given them a special grace to make such an extraordinary sacrifice. They cannot understand why they are unhappy because after all, they are doing the noble thing. However, they are doing something that is not necessary and that God never asked them to do" (Meyer, 12).
That is exactly what I felt! Reading this book and the Scripture along with it really made the idea stick. God is not asking me to give up everything I own. I already told Him I would follow Him wherever He wanted me to go. Right now, He wants me seeking Him every morning, obeying His Word, and enjoying my blessings. That's it. The reasoning was so simple I couldn't believe how far I'd let my mind get religious. *Shudder*  My emotions and relationship with Jesus were all taking a toll from just doing what God didn't ask me to do. Jesus did say:

 "Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." -John 10:10 (MSG)
Satan was killing and trying to destroy my happiness and my relationship with my God, all because I was listening to the lies and doing something God didn't ask me to do. If, of course one day Jesus puts His finger on something He specifically wants me to remove from my life, of course I will pick up that cross and carry it. But my point is- don't make yourself miserable before you think you don't deserve to enjoy the blessings God's given you! After the trial in Switzerland, I was burned out. My batteries were dead. I needed to recharge them and do something for myself and my emotions so I could recharge and be well emotionally, spiritually, and physically so that I can follow Jesus into the next thing He's got for me. So, I'm celebrating. I'm doing the things I enjoy, like going to the library and just being, writing this blog post, talking with Jesus in my favorite spots, and just being me. Yesterday, after I got my head together, I went out with my mom and bought a whole bunch of back to school clothes and some new shoes I'd been needing. I'm so happy to say that I was content just to be doing something nice for myself, and content knowing that Jesus approved and encouraged me to celebrate the journey and how far He'd taken me. He even helped me find some things!


brookeanglin.typepad.com

Last Words:
Jesus is the True Source of happiness. If I'm doing something He wants me to do, I instantly have happiness and peace at heart. That is why I'm writing this post about celebrating- it's not that you need to buy something to feel happy- it's knowing that you're allowed and encouraged to sometimes lavish on yourself because God wants you to enjoy your life and enjoy it abundantly. New clothes and new shoes are great, but for me, pleasing Jesus is better. Taking care of yourself and doing something you enjoy is NOT a sin- Jesus created us with a body and emotions and wants us to take care of them, but remember, Jesus is and will always be the True Source of Happiness. Lavish yourself with love from your Father, and then go do something you enjoy. I'm telling you, you'll feel closer to your Father than anything.

Until next time,


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

{Christian Book Review}: Rare Bird

sellabitmum.com Rare Bird is not a grief book; but more like a book describing the process of grief. I picked this book because I wanted to learn about how to live after something rocks your world and how to live after it. I wanted to know how other people have handled it and walked through it with Jesus; I wanted to learn how to do it too. I left the book unfinished- it just didn't interest me anymore. Although I emphasize with Anna's grief, the use of profanity was highly offensive to me. I don't think Christians should use such un-pure language because we've been commanded multiple times in the Bible not to. I don't think it's okay to use, at all. I also discovered that although I picked this book because I wanted to learn how our Savior is there for us in trouble, it just didn't appeal to me anymore. The message of the book was no longer for me. The book is told wonderfully; I agree with the reviews that the author is a master storyteller. The...

{Christian Book Review}: The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn

amazon.com The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn is a book focused on lost and found, adventure, and romance. Tamsen Littlejohn finds herself in a desperate position as her stepfather and suitor team up to find her...and her only resort is to head into the deep unknown with Jesse Bird, a white man raised Native American. Tamsen, born into a life of privilege and honor, finds herself challenged in new ways: not only abandoning her charmed life, but also getting comfortable around this skillful, strong man who seems to have no problem taking care of her. This forced alliance slowly turns into a love Tamsen never could've imagined for herself. But can Tamsen and Jesse forge a new life together in hiding? Will God help them through? Benton answers these questions perfectly. I enjoyed this book immensely. Benton has a way of anticipating the reader, and making every scene interesting without it seeming tediously long. This novel is 378 pages, and surprisingly very thick, which kep...

How to: Spend Time with God

 madouthere.files.wordpress.com Speaking to the Holy of Holies can be a little daunting at first, to say the least. For a new Christian, this can be one of the most dreaded things that comes with living the righteous life. What if He won't answer me? What if I can't hear anything? What if (haha)...I'm bored? Shh! Shh! I don't want to hear anymore 'what if questions'! In fact, I don't want to hear any doubtful questions right now. You just read. Let me tell you a secret- All spending time with God is this  talking to God and telling Him that you need Him in different ways. Then you listen for His response. It works just like a conversation. And just like a normal human friendship, it needs to be maintained everyday to be strong and continue thriving. What? You thought you could just talk to God on Tuesday and then not come back till the next Tuesday of next month? Doesn't work like that. Actually, the more you spend time with God and se...