Open Hands

Wow, it's been a hot minute since I've written. Since early-August to be exact. I woke up this morning feeling the urge to write, and since I had a little bit of free time this morning (a rarity), I decided that there really is no time like the present. Finals week is racing towards me like a bullet train, much like this past semester, it's gone fast and I often find myself wishing I were five again. Last week I realized I'm closer to forty than I am to birth. Life flies by so fast.

The past three months have been hard and I'm anxious to have this semester behind me. Even in the tough day to day, maintaining a "healthy balance" of classes, friendships, relationships, work, ministry, family, Jesus time, sleeping, eating etc., the list goes on: God has been faithful, as He always is and as He will always be. 

So I have some truths that I want to remind you of today, wherever you are or whatever you're going through, these truths hold steady through all stages of life. These are things that God has graciously taught me this past semester, through the trials and in the victories.

There is power in vulnerability. I used to think (very pridefully) that being vulnerable meant being weak. Let me tell you, THIS IS NOT TRUE. You do not have to have it all together all the time. I realized that once I told my pride to take a hike and once I became willing to share with others the broken parts of myself, not only were my relationships strengthened, but my relationship with Christ grew. The pride that I carried in the day to day carried over into my relationship with Christ, but once I was ready to be vulnerable and broken with Jesus, I was more willing to share with others and they were more willing to be open with me. My pride still gets in the way everyday and it's a constant battle, but Jesus never fails to meet me where I am and He never fails to bring me to a place of complete and total surrender. 

Comparison is the thief of joy. This really rings true for me. I was (and am) so quick to compare my life to others. I ask myself all the time: "Why don't I look like her?" or "Why can't I have a relationship like theirs?" or "Why does that come so easy to her, but not to me?". I've quickly realized, comparing yourself to others is a quick and easy way to make yourself miserable. God made you. He looked at you and decided that there needed to be a "you" on this Earth. Everybody struggles. Everybody has bad days. Facebook and Instagram may make it seem otherwise, but people are people and people will struggle. Find joy in knowing that you were placed here for a reason. Find joy in knowing that there is no other you. Find joy in knowing that God will use you and your struggles and victories to further His kingdom.

Jesus loves you. This sounds really Sunday school, but it's the most real thing that God has taught me this semester. It can be a hard thing to wrap your mind around, but it is so important. He loves you with everything He has. He loves you so much that He sent his son to die for YOU. He loves you so much that he will never leave, never forsake, never abandon, even when it seems like everyone else has. He is constant when life isn't. I challenge you to start living loved. Live like you have received the greatest, most precious gift of all time, because you have. Recognizing this has changed the way I look at the trials and the joys and everything in between. The creator of the universe loves me and is using me to further His kingdom. That's big. 

I'm calling this season and the coming seasons of life the "open hands" season. It simply means that I am open to whatever God has for me, I am open to following Him to the hard places, to the happy places, to the new places and to the old places. I challenge you to live with "open hands" to what He has for you, because when we do that, we open ourselves up to wonders unknown. Wonders that can only be known if we follow Him and obey Him, even when it's hard. 

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 3:37-39.