Truth? Lately, praising Jesus has been hard. Life has been stressful to the max. I feel like I've been running ninety to nothing every day since January 1st, and it has been getting the best of me.
Yesterday, I woke up having a pity party. As I scrolled through my Facebook newsfeed, I saw tons of people on vacation, tons of wedding pictures, engagement pictures, and just all around happiness. Happiness that I long for. Happiness that I
These are the moments when it is most important to praise God. When life isn't perfect, when you're tired, beat down, ragged, and doing your least favorite thing, praise God. When it seems like everyone else is traveling, getting married, getting engaged, having babies, and you're not, praise God. When you're struggling in a graduate school class with a professor that seems to be completely unreasonable, praise God. When you have 20 seventh graders bouncing off the walls and caring less about the math you're trying to teach them, praise God. When you're 25 and life has not turned out at all like you thought it would, praise God.
So, I continued washing dishes, while praising my Jesus. As I did, God revealed to me more and more of all of the things in life that I have to be grateful for. Simple things, like every single dish and piece of silverware that I washed... each item represented a meal that I'd eaten in the comfort of my home-- on dishes, with air conditioner, with electricity, with a roof over my head-- all paid for by the income from the job that I am blessed to have. Yet, for some reason, I felt the need to have a pity party this morning because I have not been spending the week in some exotic location? Father, forgive me. I am blessed beyond measure, and I'm ashamed to admit that it has taken me so long to get that through my stubborn head.
As I sit here today, I'm realizing, however, that it is about so much more than what I'm blessed to have as far as material things go, above all else, even if I had absolutely nothing else in this life, I'd still have more than what I need in Christ. It's so easy to stand and sing "In Christ Alone" on Sunday, but by Wednesday to live like it's not true... Oh, Father, forgive me. May I find my hope, my contentment, my peace, in Christ alone because He is enough.
I pray that I would hang on to that. One year ago, February 28th, I fully understood that for the very first time. I finally got that Christ was enough. He took my punishment. He paid my ransom. He set me free. He restored my relationship to the Father. Oh, praise God! And, this year, on February 28th, I sat in my church praising Jesus for the mighty work He's done in me over the past year, and I meant it with all of my heart. Yet, as I was driving home from church, at a red light (of course!), I checked my email, and I saw 5 parent emails, 3 student emails, and 2 emails from professors. Bam. Reality. And I let it take over. I let it steal my joy. Father, forgive me.
Contentment. It's a funny word. It's a funny idea, not in the haha type of way, but in the irony that we are all searching for it, but it's only found in one place that we glance at and walk away. You see, I'm learning more and more that contentment is, always has been, and will always be found in Christ alone. He is our strength. He is our hope. Any other source of contentment will run dry.
"Water from a broken well will make you thirst again." - Jimmy Needham, Dearly Loved (If you haven't heard it, listen now! It's beautiful!)
HE is the living water-- the well that will not run dry. Run to Him and you'll never thirst again. He meets our every need. HE is enough. Rest in that. He loves you dearly, just call on Him.
"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." - 2 Corinthians 12:9
- Kayla
