In the Process

I've had the privilege to really sit and visit with some other brothers-in-Christ lately and was reminded of something that I had forgotten. You see as of lately I've been pretty hard on myself about where I am in my walk with the Lord, I'm not studying enough, not praying enough, not serving enough, etc. The list could literally go on and on. Yet the resounding thing I am reminded in talking and sharing with others is that this thing we call a relationship with Jesus is a process.

I had to take a long hard look at where I'm at now and remember where I was just five years ago and once I did that it was as through I was looking at someone else's life and not my own. God has done an amazing work in my life and by no means what it anything that I did. He opened my eyes, He changed my heart and He gets all the credit for it. All I did was simply do the possible and He did the impossible.

The Apostle Paul reminds us throughout the New Testament that this is a race or a fight (see 1 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Ephesians 6:12) and in a race or fight  you don't get to the finish line or final round immediately. You'll have pains, ups and downs, struggles, muscle cramps, bumps and bruises and other various things that come up within the process. The key is that we recognize that we are in a process and keep moving forward and not to give up.

While in the process we can sometimes get so banged up that we don't know which way is up but there is an instruction manual (God's Word) that serves as an anchor for us. I've been guilty of setting aside this manual and trying to fight without it and believe me it's impossible to try to make it without it. I thought I could make it through without checking the manual and every time I did so, I'd find myself in a place I didn't want to be.

So just be aware that this is an ongoing process and you may not be where you want to be but thank God you're not where you used to be. 

Take Care & God Bless,

-E