Today I am so excited that that you are getting to know L. We knew each other before Influence but now are real life friends. I am so thankful for her friendship. Enjoy getting to know her & hearing her heart today.
Ladies,
Ladies,
I can’t even begin to tell you how honored I feel to be
able to share with you here on Brit’s blog. I just love her heart and the way she cares so much about
all of you guys.
Who is this girl who has taken over....sorry I should
introduce myself, well my name is L and I blog at All Glorious Within. I share
things the Lord is teaching me in the hope of encouraging others who might be
in similar situations or learning similar things. I love the community here in
the blog world and really love the idea of accountability/sisterhood where
ladies feel encouraged and inspired to live their lives set apart for Jesus
seeking to honor Him with every area of life. I am currently doing a 31 days
series on thankfulness, which has been so much more mind blowing than I ever
thought imaginable. God has been so good in teaching me some seriously awesome
things through a simple idea. Check it out here.
So grab a coffee and sit with me as I share a little more
with you guys.....
Many years ago, I sat in the pew of the church shaking a
little as I listened to my summer camp group leader talk about what it meant to
love Jesus. What it meant to become a ‘christian.’ I read through the little
booklet in my hand and wondered what there was to question as I understood the
bullet points it had.
- I believed that I had done bad things in my life
- I believed that God was perfect
- I Believed Jesus had died on the cross for me to restore relationship with God as I had done these bad things
- I wanted my life to change, to live my life for Jesus instead of me
I told my leader I wanted to pray the prayer that followed
as I understood and wanted to make the commitment. I tried to make it not a big
deal, but I sensed there was something big happening. She prayed with me and
together we signed a date.
I was only six years old at the time.
I was so fortunate to have grown up in a Christian home. I
had two parents who introduced me to Jesus, took me to church and youth group.
They were pretty strict about the upbringing of me and my sister and showed us
we were loved. I never doubted the existence of God as a child, He was real to
me. Looking back, I believe that I really did understand all those bullet
points in the little booklet at six years old. But I still did not understand
that last one. I signed that booklet and yet continued on as though everything
was the same.
It wasn't until I was thirteen and realising how much I had
tried to live life in junior high for my friends and for the acceptance of
those around me, that I truly started to understand the concept of living for
Jesus.
That daily choice of choosing to do something to show His love to
someone, instead of doing something because it makes me look good.
So one night during worship at youth group in a new city,
with new people all around me, in a new place...this realisation came to me and
I signed a commitment to rededicate my life to Christ.
To Live for Him this
time instead of me.
At first it was effort to worry less about what people
thought, to walk down the halls of my school and realize that as long as I was
following Jesus, I probably would not be popular here.
And over time that
became ok.
The Lord gave me an incredible sense of His love and peace. He
brought friends into my life who shared my love for Him, friends who encouraged
me and challenged me to grow in my walk with Him. Not many of these in my
school setting.
Finally after a relationship with a guy that I desperately
wanted to happen didn't work out towards the end of high school, I began to
truly fall in love with Jesus. I began to no longer see him as just a good
friend or a father figure to rely and depend on. I began to see Him as my first
love. I made a commitment in college to read through the entire Bible, and His
word came alive to me during those days as I read about his faithfulness in the
Old Testament and his love through the sacrifice of His son in the New
Testament. Graciously I even read through the book of Numbers and came away in
awe of God and His character. If you've ever read that book, you’ll see how
that must have been a God thing.
The more I read about Him, the more I
understood who He was. He became an incredible constant in my life, a
foundation for my understanding of love. Even though once again I was
surrounded by people who didn't know Him and didn't love Him, the Lord provided
several people to encourage me, to challenge me....often these sweet friends
were in a different geographical location to me.
To this day, I am thankful for that challenging situation
where a relationship with a guy I truly wanted, didn't work out. (At least not
in my timing)
Because God had bigger plans, plans to show me how much He loved
me first. Living life for Him is hard, but we don’t have to do it alone.
So friends, if I could encourage you in any way today. I
would want you to know that no matter what situation you find yourself in,
there is a person waiting to comfort you. He knows you and loves you so much!
(see what he thinks of you)
Run into His arms and begin to fall in love. You won’t ever regret
that decision.
Much Love,
L
1. Loving Jesus - there's nothing else like it! ;)
ReplyDelete2. I nominated you for an award over at my blog!
http://lifeoflt.blogspot.com/2012/11/id-like-to-thank-academy.html
new[est] follower. loving this post and loving your blog! can't wait to keep following along!
ReplyDeletestop by sometime!
kalobandelise.blogspot.com
love this girl. =)
ReplyDelete