This past weekend I attended a ladies retreat with some of the ladies in my church along with my sister and cousin. It was held at America's Keswick, and I was able to participate in many of the fun planned events as well as the scheduled sermons. Among many of the speakers, one that truly inspired me was Valerie Bell. She spoke of God's love for us in such a way, that it almost stopped you in your tracks and dared you not to listen.
She posed a question to us during one of her sermons, and it stuck on me and I just couldn't stop thinking about it. She asked, "If all of your dreams came true... would the world be a better place?" Ouch. That hurt....like as if someone had literally smacked me in the face. It dawned on me from that moment, that all of my dreams, though important to me...were essentially all about ME. I never thought much about this, I'm sure all of us have a list of things that we want in our lives...but will they make a difference? Not necessarily to the whole world, but how about to someone close that you love?
What I came to find during my stay is that life is difficult...for everyone. Some of us may have more trouble or different trouble than others...but in the end we all have our own race to run. I realized that though there is pain, suffering, and darkness in the world... God sent His own son Jesus to us... HERE to be in that darkness and guess what? He overcame it. Because I know that no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to be that perfect person, with a perfect life, perfect clothes, perfect car... I'm not perfect. No one is. And we don't have to be...because He is.
What kind of God would stoop so low as to come among imperfect people like us? I came to understand that our love, human love will never come close to the amount love that God has. His love is absolutely eternal and endless. Valerie explained it like going to an ice cream shop and paying for an ice cream sundae. You get an ice cream sundae, right? Well yea that's what you paid for. God on the other hand, would hand you a cup overflowing with ice cream, hot fudge, whip cream, cherries, more ice cream...so much that it overflows out of the cup onto the table all over the floor! God's love has no limits. Wow.
I want to live in such a way that I won't miss out on life, because of my circumstances. I want to focus on the light, because no matter how small and dim a light maybe in a room full of darkness... that light will shine and break the darkness. I want my dreams to reach past this life, because this life is quickly fading. To love more, without boundaries because in the end isn't love what matters most?
I'm the type of person that keeps most feelings and thoughts inside. I learned that fear is something that all of us have to help us survive on instant...which is good. Anxiety on the other hand is what we think might happen. That's my big one. But these thoughts were on my heart, and I felt the need to write. My heart opened up so much more this weekend, and helped me realize that the life we were given is so incredibly precious. And that most of all, me, you, that little bird that fell to the ground struggling to fly... matter to Him. Can you imagine...I mean God who must have an amazing life, so many grand things to do... cares and loves us? It's pretty incredible.
Though we are all struggling and will have trouble, I have faith more than ever that it will be okay. More than okay, absolutely amazing. Because with Jesus, you don't need to settle. And beyond anything else...know that He is always only a prayer away. Woah this was a long post...have a beautiful week!
“The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (John 1:5)
