2 very important things that stand out to me during this time in my life are: 1- prayer. and my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
2- my family. the signficance of family, and specifically my own family. how much they mean to me and the support and love my parents bless me with.
tonight i had a great conversation with one of my friends from home. we have not had the chance to talk in a while and i have missed our conversations, because she is a true encouragement and blessing in my life. the Lord has used her in my life in powerful ways. i am thankful for our chats and how i know the Lord can be central to a person's life and to a friendship. tonight we talked about prayer and how we both right now are in different places of little faith and trust. prayer is such a hard concept to grasp and understand. the more i think about prayer and actually do it, though, the more i am aware of God's existence and presence. that who i am talking to is an omnicient and omnipotent God. that who i am talking to is all loving and all just. he is perfect. he is holy. and righteous. and merciful. and faithful. i think over the recent past, my prayer relationship with God has changed. prayer may or may not change my circumstance the way i would like, but it for sure changes my perspective of the Lord and of my relationship with Him. it makes me step back and re-evaluate WHO it is i am praying to and what He does and is doing and has done on my behalf. we were talking about how we have been praying for one of our best friends for the past several months about a decision she was trying to make about what to do with her life and where to go, and how now she has moved- which was the major decision for her...but how that whole time we were praying for her, God was orchestrating all of it. and how emotionally uplifting it was for our sweet friend to know she had people praying for her...and how even MORE uplifting it is for us as believers to know the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer. "intercedes" in Biblical usage means: (just found this tidbit from Biblegateway)
Intercession of the Spirit
(Rom. 8:26, 27; John 14:26). "Christ is a royal Priest (Zech. 6:13). From the same throne, as King, he dispenses his Spirit to all the objects of his care, while as Priest he intercedes for them. The Spirit acts for him, taking only of his things. They both act with one consent, Christ as principal, the Spirit as his agent. Christ intercedes for us, without us, as our advocate in heaven, according to the provisions of the everlasting covenant. The Holy Spirit works upon our minds and hearts, enlightening and quickening, and thus determining our desires 'according to the will of God,' as our advocate within us. The work of the one is complementary to that of the other, and together they form a complete whole.", Hodge's Outlines of Theology.
i am in awe of my loving Father...
which brings me to the second thing i am recently very thankful for and that is my family. i am so thankful for my parents and brother. i am thankful for the foundation my parents have laid for my life and the childhood i had. i have been blessed beyond words with a wonderful family. i think about adoption a lot and about families (because of my job) and the kids i see daily who have struggling families/parents/backgrounds/etc...and i take my family for granted so often. in terms of adoption, i am in awe of where i am and where i could have been...that the Lord had a grand plan for my life and has filled my brain with knowledge of Himself, of His Word, His Gospel, His love, etc, and my purpose alone is to serve and glorify Him and share those things my brain is filled with...the fact that i grew up knowing these truths and could have been in a totally different country and place is beyond my imagination. my parents are both individually the most selfless and loving people i know.
these 2 things right now are definitely keystones and foundations. and i am so thankful.
if you don't have this song already, go to itunes and buy "holy is the Lord" by bethany dillon. great stuff.
back to reading for my masters program. pretty much my life consists of work and school.
No comments:
Post a Comment