Ever so Near You

Hello everyone, yay for second blog post: sorry if I went MIA, but in college that tends to happen so hopefully y'all are flexible:). Okay let's get into it.

Alone. Have you ever been in a crowd, but felt so... alone? Yeah it's okay cause same here. We live in a "lost, dark, and broken world" (thanks ACC for the quote) so it's quite alright to feel like this. Sometimes the people you surround yourself with, are just slowly chocking you, and you have no idea until you are at a breaking point. The enemy tries and tries and tries to surround you because that is one way to pull someone away from God- when one is alone, he/she is vulnerable.

What has surrounded you, has been surrounded by God- you are not alone even in the darkest of alleys of your life. Jesus has paid it all and feels the weight of your life on His chest. He wants nothing, but for you to feel the presence of Him. Being surrounded by problems that afflict you, means being surrounded by the presence of God to sustain you. My church a few weeks ago, did a series on this topic and gave us 3 steps to surround yourself and to eliminate being alone.

1. Stop looking for certainty and start looking for confidence. I for one am so bad at this. I want to know if everything is going to be okay- I LOVEEEE (jk) to worry... Be confident when talking / praying to God. Know that He is doing everything in your life and whatever happens, happens, but this can only be true if you let go and let Him guide your life. This mind set is true evidence / understanding of faith cause if you question your future then aren't you pretty much questioning God??? God promises so much and yet we still doubt those promises... whyyy. Remember those times in your life when you didn't think it could get any worse but low-and-behold it did; however, wasn't that just a season of your life? Look where you are now. Isn't that a proven promise? Hold onto your past cause it reinforces confidence. So, rule one, confidence.

2. Stop asking what God is doing and start asking how God can use you. Life on earth is not suppose to be comfortable and easy going. It's going to be hard. Our goal in life is to be used by God not a comfortable luke-warm life. The people who get used most by God are the ones who suffer the most. Just to clarify though, this does not mean life isn't suppose to be fun and up-lifting. This world has a longing of people for a positive focus on their lives, and Jesus planted that longing in our souls, knowing that only Him can satisfy it. "Delight yourself in Me; let Me become the Desire of your heart" Psalm 37:4.

3. Stop fighting for control and start fighting for closeness. Pray. The same God that you are singing to / about shows up most when we are broken and asking for closeness. You are never more like Jesus than when you are hurting. Jesus paid it all. He paid everything you ever did / will do. He understands your feelings, and only asks for you to come closer and not further. Most of us are self driven; we want and believe that everything we do will work out as long as we work hard at it; however, if you've lived on this earth long enough you'll soon come to realize that sometimes working hard still won't get us there. We take control of our own lives. Stop looking inward at yourself and start reaching upward towards God.

I hope that this little something something had an impact on someone out there! You all are amazing for supporting to do this. Hope yall

have a blessed day or night. ILY see yall soon.