Fighting the Good Fight

The idea for starting this blog came by this section right here. 

Devotionals. 

I naturally wake up so dang early.

When I experienced a true & real restoration in my life this past year, I decided at some point to turn my early mornings into my official "Jesus & Me" time. 

Keep Out. 

That being said, most mornings for the past year of my life have basically always began with a cup of coffee and devotional. 

Its a different every morning. 

Sometimes I listen to a podcast sermon, sometimes I open up randomly in my bible, sometimes I read Captivating (SIDE NOTE: every girl in the world should read it)...etc. 

Sometimes I don't do anything...
I'm not perfect here

I am incredibly blessed with a missional community right in my home. 

For the past year, three of my best friends and I have been growing in faith together by sharing our daily devotionals with each other 

When God's words really speak to us, when they move us, we just HAVE to share it. 

And through one of us, all of us are encouraged.

That's how community works.

Anyways...my real hope for this blog is that one day someone may read the words He gives me and be encouraged and strengthened like I am. 

Like my friends are.

I am always dying, itching, drawn to sharing what has changed my life this year...

That only by our faith in Him is daily Joy & contentment found. 

Yet I can't tell you how often (aka everyday) I am tempted to put my faith in other things...boys, my family, my friends, exercise, boys, school, food, money, clothing, boys? And more often than not, these things disappoint me. 
Shocker. 

But I think God gets it. I think He knows His people are wired this way. 

If we weren't, why would our first commandment be to have "No God before [Him]"?

It is only because we are more prone to trust the SEEN rather than the UNSEEN. 

I want to touch it, feel it, see it, be assured it is with me. 

And that is where faith comes in. 

That is where faith develops. 

By letting go and trusting what we cannot see. 

But when I take a look down memory lane, I can see it. 

I actually marvel at what faith has done for me. 

What darkness He took me out of when I truly gave it all to Him.

What light He showed me when I gave Him the huge, heavy yoke I carried on my shoulders for years and years and years...

I'm really not THAT much of an emotional person, but sometimes I cry just thinking about it. 

And how can I just keep this to myself everyday?

Your testimony and your spiritual knowledge is something to be shared, not hidden.

So this blog is destined to be about my faith. 

About the daily knowledge I blessed with and moved by. 

It's all about "fighting the good fight of FAITH"(1 Timothy 6:12)

Before you strap on your body armor, grab your sword, and battle cry to the world, 
"THIS IS FOR YOU GOD!!!!!!"....
you should know that this isn't a fight for God. 

This isn't a battle God is telling us to jump into and wreck havoc upon. 

No, this is a fight for rest. For relaxation. And for peace. 

And I take it because honestly I'm tired of fighting.

If youre searching for a man of better faith than me, just go look at Romans 4:18. 

Abraham is the one.

Against all odds and in all circumstances he believed.

He did not just believe IN God, but believed God. 

That's most of our problem. Yeah we believe God, but do we really trust in what He says?

What God said, Abraham believed.

God said, "Hey Abraham, you're 100 years old, you are probably aching all over and your wife's womb is dead but youre gonna start a new nation! Okay?"

Makes no sense to believe, right?

Abraham did.

"...in hope against hope he believed"

That is faith. 

When God tells you something, 

when He offers one thousand promises in the bible, 

when He says He will move the mountains, 

when He tells you to come to Him all who are weary and you will find rest...

Faith is believing Him.

It will happen.

It did for me. 

Promise after promise after promise, we need to hear it and say Amen.

That my friends, is Faith.