Not Once

How easy is it to get stressed out!? I mean for real it is so incredibly easy to let the things of this earth grab a hold of every single thought and sink us into a vast void of some form of depression. I write this because I have contracted this disease and quite frankly it's pathetic. I sit back and start letting my mind crunch numbers and I wonder how I will ever pay these school bills...people I am going to a school that pays for my tuition. How weak is my faith? That is what it has come down to because if I truly trusted God with every aspect of my life I would never feel lost to this worlds temporary "problems". I put problems into parentheses because is it really a problem?

So missions conference just rolled through Moody Bible Institute. What an experience! I was blessed to hear the testimonies of people that have left all to follow Christ. Modern day Peter, James, and John's spoke from the pulpit of Torrey-Gray Auditorium and spilled their stories of life, loss, and most of all an unyielding faith that I pray I one day attain. What I seem to see only now is that the problems I mentioned earlier are not really problems at all. They are, instead, tests of sorts. God doesn't let his children coast through life whilst being effective in ministry! It does not work that way! The two just don't go together! Ask any person who has made any impact for God's kingdom and they will tell you a story that will no doubt include trials that make my little school bill "problem" look like that ant you accidently stomped on earlier today. Talk about a reality check...

So money is a bit tight in room 611 of Culbertson 6. Naturally this isn't something I just shrug off, but it also shouldn't be enough to send me into a state of panic. Anxiety is a human emotion, we all feel it from time to time. My mom, however, loves to send me straight to Phillipians 4 whenever I sound anxious. Verses 5b-6 clearly state "The Lord is at hand, do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." With what? What does He want to me to pray with? That's right, thanksgiving. And now I see it! How blessed am I? By this world's standards I am well off. I have shelter, education, and a family that loves me! That list could get so much longer but for sake of space lets just assume that I have more to be thankful for than I could ever deserve. Now couple that with the fact that I have been blessed with eternal life as a result of my Savior's death on a cross.

I see three steps that NEED to follow this realization:

1. Get to my knees. Right where I belong. I am so undeserving of God's love. He is the Creator of the universe and I never once leave His mind. As He turned His back on His Son, my Savior on a tree that He created, I was on his mind. I never left it. Not Once. So I pray for forgiveness, and I thank him for the innumerable ways He has blessed a sinner such as I.

2. Get on my feet. Time to take action. The kind that doesn't just attempt to fix my financial, emotional, or (fill in the blank) problems, but the problem that is plaguing the majority of mankind. So many people have yet to see God's face, have yet to accept the gift He offered from the cross. The gift I so easily neglect and forget. Time to make a difference for God's kingdom, and while I do it I can know that I never leave His sight. Not Once.

3. Get on my cross. "And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:38-39). Time to put this world behind me and start living for a kingdom to come. Is it easy? Nah, it's tough. Missions conference showed me real life examples of those that have lived this life and in every single case it was worth it! There is a joy, a peace, in living for Christ that passes all understanding. When I leave this earth I will enter into eternity and hear those precious words "Well done my good and faithful servant" and it will all be worth it. I will live eternity with my Savior and never regret the life of difficulty I lived on earth. Not Once.


Jesus Christ payed the ultimate price for you and me. The prayer of my heart is that I would start living a life that will show that same selflessness for the people I encounter. That I would have the faith to trust God in all circumstances, not just the ones that are easy. I hope this can be the prayer of your heart as well.