I have now been in college for almost a month. Wow. Time has flown.
Since my arrival at NGU, The Lord has taught me very much. For that, I am eternally grateful.
In my junior year of high school, I truly decided to follow Jesus with all of my heart, soul, and mind. Since then He has pruned, grown, and molded me – but this process continues daily and will never reach an end point until the day that I humbly get to fall onto my knees at the foot of His holy throne.
When I arrived at NGU, my relationship with Christ was becoming stagnant. I had not been persistent about being in the word and spending intimate time with Him throughout the summer. I arrived at college and my world was flipped – PRAISE HIM FOR THAT!
The day I moved in was the day that I began Joyful Sound rehearsals. I was immediately surrounded by a group of around 23 people who loved the Lord with everything they were. These people’s presence began to pour into me, even though they don’t even know it.
The main point that the Lord has taught me recently is that a personal and intimate relationship with Him enhances and changes our daily lives in the simplest and most extravagant ways.
In Hebrews 12: 2 the scriptures tell us to
“Keep our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.”
The Message version translates it like this:
“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in.”
You see, as followers of Jesus, we are called to run this race called life. Now, there are two different tracks to this race: a narrow one, and a wide and straight one (Matthew 7: 13-14). The path that you choose is your decision, but we were created by God to live in relationship with Him ( Genesis 1:27, 1 John 4:19) and the narrow path is the one we are called to choose.
In Matthew 7, the narrow path is described as the path of LIFE. The path that leads to eternity with Jesus. This path begins with salvation and continues by pursuing an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
My relationship had become stagnant, but in Psalms 23 it speaks of the Lord setting a table in the presence of our enemies, or the temptations and trials of this world. God doesn’t set this table for us to admire from a distance or to look pretty in the dark valleys of our lives. But instead He sets this table to give us an opportunity to sit down and dine with Him – to LIVE LIFE with Him!!
I’m speaking to my fellow teens and young adults here: your life may be going exactly how you want it to, or maybe, in your eyes, perfect. For my christians, you may know you need God, but don’t want Him right now. For my unbelievers, you may know you’ll need a higher being one day, but not now. Let me tell you how I feel.
Do not be afraid of change (read my last post if you are 🙂 ). The Lord does not desire to take away things from you that are good and that glorify Him. He does not desire to strip you of the gifts that He gave you – He desires to ENHANCE and CHANGE your PERSPECTIVE on those gifts.
A relationship with Jesus Christ transforms happiness to joy, guilt to shamelessness, fear to boldness, darkness to light, dirty to CLEAN. The Lord blesses us with so many beautiful gifts, for example – the breath you just took, and that one, and the next one!
He desires for us to live ABUNDANTLY (John 10:10). The only way to do so, is to live life with Him!
His word gives guidance, His presence brings peace, His love brings comfort, and a relationship with Him brings you closer to Him.
For example, my fabulous roommate (shoutout to you Maddie <3) and I would not have established such a great relationship with each other if we had not taken the time to get to know each others hearts and minds.
God gave us His word so that we can get to know His heart for us.
So my dear friends, I want to encourage you to DIG IN. Don’t you dare say you don’t have time because we are blessed with every second and every breath.
So figure out what works best for you! If you want to start simple, I highly request a morning devotional like Jesus Calling or UNSHAKEABLE ( I will link below!!).
Begin a reading plan! The YouVersion bible app, and if you look online, has LOTS of easy plans that will help you to pick up your Bible and know where to start!
My desire for you is that you fall in love with your relationship with Him and in His word. It is the word of God and the stories of the God of the universe and how much He loves us and how He chooses US over and over again.
So, to my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, and to my beloved friends who don’t quite yet understand Jesus, start searching. He’s seeking you out and calling you home to Him. Answer the call. Start somewhere! He loves you, and He created you to be in relationship with Him!
Don’t turn away.
If you have any questions or comments about the above post or prayer requests, please feel free to contact me! I’d love to pray over you, get to know you, and help you in any way that I can!
In His Love,
CarrieLiz
Carrie Liz 
Love you site. You go girl.
Hugs. Nana.
LikeLiked by 1 person