Jon and I didn’t know it at the time, but blessing upon blessing started pouring out over us this past August. I had been hunting for a church home in Central PA for about two years at that point, and he had been on that hunt with me for the past 11 months. As we were moving into our house, we kept driving past this not-too-huge Evangelical Free church, so we decided to give it a try the following Sunday. Ever since that first day at Susquehanna Valley Evangelical Free Church, we have felt at home. The members of the congregation have welcomed us in fully, and the pastor and other staff have been incredibly friendly and have reached out to us in so many ways. We went to church there this morning and listened to a phenomenal sermon on the battle for our heart.
Our nature is not to have a heart devoted to God, but to rather have a heart that is divided and torn between duty and devotion. So often, we love God out of duty, and love worldly things out of devotion, instead of loving God fully out of devotion. We love the Lord our God with some of our heart, instead of giving him the whole thing. If we try to give the whole thing, there is always the “but this” piece that holds us back. I think this is why Lent is such a powerful season in the church. Lent pushes us to look deeper at our “but this” things that hold us back from a closer relationship with God. We try to give those things up, and often only do so for some of the time. I am more than guilty of this. I try so hard, but the “but this” just keeps me back. I could love God fully with all of my heart, but I can’t give up my laziness. I can love God fully with all of my heart, but I can’t give up my control over my life. I could love God fully with all of my heart, but I can’t let go of these past sins that hold me back.
God calls on us to let go to the things that tie us back and surrender to Him. I still haven’t figured out how to do this yet, but I keep reminding myself that this is what I need to do if I want to feel revival. I keep praying that God will show me the way and will help me to release my “but this” moments to the wind.
After church this morning, I had a blast playing and helping to facilitate the dodgeball tournament at my school. We went to Bible Study with our young couple’s group afterwards and enjoyed some wonderful fellowship in the middle of our 5 Love Languages series. We are so grateful that they have brought us into their group so open-heartedly, and we are so grateful for their friendship, presence, guidance, and example in our lives.
Eat: SO good today! I may have gone overboard on my hummus intake at Bible Study, but with carrots as the vehicle, I’m okay with that! Everything that I ate was clean today! Woohoo!!!
Pray: A lot. See above for details. God is moving in me, but I need to LET GO!
Write: I am loving the routine of it. I feel better and more centered as I head to bed.
Run: No run today because I had zero time to fit it in. But, I shoveled our beast of a driveway this morning, played dodgeball and ran around like a maniac trying to manage things, and just finished my Yoga Fix.
Eat, Pray, Write, Run 