I went out on a limb today. Not a very big one, considering it was just to the college group at Mission Community Church, but a limb nonetheless. For some reason, all day, all I could think about was going to Ember (that's the name of the group) and how I needed to go. I just felt a continuous little tug on my heart telling me to go and not to be afraid. Usually my schedule doesn't allow for me to be able to go because I have class right in the middle of it. But tonight I didn't... coincidence? So, I went.
I am SO glad I went. During worship they sang one of my favorite songs, "I Exalt Thee..." coincidence?
A great friend that I hadn't seen in a while and had been thinking about non-stop was there... coincidence?
The pastor asked some really great questions. One that stuck out to me more than others, "Do we ever make encountering God more difficult or complicated than it needs to be?" and by that he meant what are the barriers that we put up between us and God because we think they need to be there. This really got me thinking. We get this idea in our head that we have to say just the right thing to God, or that we have to pray the perfect prayer, or that we have to act like we have everything together all the time, or that God can only do so much, or that our problem is stupid and that God won't care about one "tiny, insignificant" thing. None of that is true. We just need to be real with him. We are never going to be able to fully understand him or his love for us, but the least we can give back to him is our honesty and our realness. Being real with God all of the time will help to knock down those barriers. He knows exactly what we are thinking and he knows everything that is on our hearts at all times. There is nothing he can't see or hear. So why be fake?
And I am definitely speaking about myself here.
A friend said earlier that it seems that just when you think you have it all together or it looks like you have it all together, you fall. Well, in a way I think that's very true. We tend to only want God around during the hard times. When we get to the top of the tree we forget that it was really him who helped us get there. So when something happens to us on top of the tree, we don't turn straight to him and ask for his help, so we fall. We think we can handle it and we don't need God anymore now that we have made it to the top. That is when we need God the most. At least I do. Being at Ember tonight opened my eyes to this and made me realize the barriers I have been dealing with. I haven't been real with God and I have been trying to handle life on my own. It's impossible. He is the one and only person I can depend on all of the time. 2 Corinthians 1: 3 "All praise to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of compassion and the source of all comfort."
:)
