As I sit at my dorm room desk, eating a pint of my favorite ice cream and reflect on my day, I can't help but feel God's overwhelming love for me. For me personally, i feel God's presence most everyday, but there are just some moments when I get enthralled by how much Jesus loves me and the joy that I bring to his heart. In many areas of life, i think a lot of us feel as though we're disappointing God or not doing all that we can to make him proud. We don't think of our actions or thoughts as bringing joy to Jesus. It's easy to get caught up in the everyday mundane tasks of life and forget that we make God happy in every moment of our lives and even though sometimes we may stumble, his love never falters. We forget that God created us knowing we wouldn't be perfect, or even close. Middle school and high school years can be some of the hardest when figuring out "who you are", (let's face it, no one really knows who they are) and it can be a real challenge making friends or trying to fit in. For 6 years of our lives we yearn to sit at the lunch table with the girls who get hundreds of likes on instagram, or to sit in class with the kids who have a 4.0 GPA. We're always searching for a place to sit and be accepted. I can remember praying to God in high school that I would know at least one person in the lunch room who would let me sit with them so I wouldn't have to eat alone. Looking back now it seems almost silly considering most college students eat alone, but to me then, it was important for me to have a seat by someone I knew in each class and at lunch. I just wanted to fit in. One of my favorite Christian influencers really changed my perception of God's love for me and the meaning of fitting in. In her book, Seated with Christ, Heather Holleman reminds us that we have a place with Jesus Christ in the heavenly realms because we are seated with him (Ephesian's 2:6). No matter what anyone thinks of us or what we think of ourselves, our seat with Jesus will never be taken out from underneath us. It's a truly beautiful thing to learn about our seat in heaven and all that it means to be seated with our Lord. It means that we can try and fight for a spot at the rich table or the smart table, but our ultimate seat is with Jesus and we didn't have to move a single finger for it. If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it. My life has certainly changed knowing that my Father has a reserved seat for me and that I can stop fighting to fit in. Another one of my favorite Christian influencers created the tag line, Your brokenness is welcome here, and this movement is spreading like crazy. I'll admit as I sit in my long sleeve yellow YBIWH t-shirt, that I have too, jumped on this bandwagon. But Jordan's message behind these shirts is something we all forget way too often. We are all broken. We have al made mistakes and sinned and been involved in things we would be ashamed for people to know about, but the thing is, God knows all about these things and loves us anyway. He allows our brokenness, in fact he welcomes it. God's love for you is so abundantly strong that he leaves his arms wide open for us to run into with all of our broken promises and sins. Because we are seated and because our brokenness is welcome in the kingdom of heaven, we can find joy in who we are and who God made us. We can find peace in the fact that someone got the job you wanted or the girl you don't like got her hair dyed the way you wanted, because God has something different in store for you. Being seated and broken is something so special that God has allowed us to experience and I pray that each of you meditate on what this means for your lives. This post was inspired by Jordan Lee Dooley and her blog, Soul Scripts. Accompanied by the book Seated with Christ that I will have linked down below. Both of these ladies share incredible wisdom and encouragement and I could not recommend them more. Happy Valentines Day Eve, I hope you all enjoyed today's post! My heart is so full during this season of love and I'm so grateful for the wonderful support that all of you exude. Thank you for reading! God Bless, Sydney A big thank you to Sarah for mentoring me and teaching me that I am seated with Christ. Love you and your heart for the Lord endlessly! Link to Jordan's website: thesoulscripts.com Link to Seated with Christ: www.amazon.com/Seated-Christ-Living-Culture-Comparison/dp/0802413439/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518563838&sr=8-1&keywords=seated+with+christ+by+heather+holleman&dpID=51e1XN0sK8L&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
1 Comment
|
Hi, I'm Sydney!Welcome I'm glad you're here! Categories
All
Archives
October 2021
|