take something different.

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us...But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, To those who keep His covenant, and remember His precepts to do them."

-Psalm 103:10-12, 17,18

Just opened my Bible and these verses were the first that I read. I was just hit again full force with the fact that all I've done, all the iniquities I have are nothing next to the lovingkindness of my God. It's an astounding and wonderful thought! He is so high above all that I've ever thought to be and He sees every small sin I have, yet still He looks at me and whispers, " Beloved, I see it all, even that which is hidden. And I love you anyway. I love you so much, too much to leave you this way. See, I have removed your sin from you as far as the east is from the west, but do not use this as an excuse to remain as you are! For when you gaze upon my face, you will desire to continually be all that I would have you be from everlasting to everlasting and not remain in a continual state of repeating the same sin over and over and over."

This is truth. He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. So often, I hear songs sung, books written, teachers teaching, about how God loves us just the way we are, for who we were born as. I agree, He does love us even when we are in the midst of our sin, before we have ever realized our great need for Him. I do not agree, however, that it ends there! He does not discover us, reveal who He is to us, and then state that we're ok just the way we are, we never need truly change, because "He loves us just the way we are"!! No! When we gaze upon His sweet face, when we come to have a daily relationship with Him, there begins to burn in us the desire to not pitch our tent right at the beginning of the endless frontier, but to endlessly pursue that which He sets before us! And this does not encompass staying in the same old sin, constantly struggling with the exact same thing.

Now, please do not misunderstand what I'm trying to say. I am not saying we will be perfect, that we will never sin again or fall into temptation, but there should constantly be a pursuit of heavenly honor and decorum, there should be a discontent with staying where we are, and a constant pursuit after all that He is. And what a glorious adventure such a life pursuit is! And not only that, but if this is the one pursuit of our soul, to know more and more and more of Jesus, His righteousness will not only be found by us, but also by our children and our children's children!

As of yet, I do not have any children (though they may be alive somewhere and waiting for the Lord to bring me to them) but, this is a great desire of my heart. Though I do not know these precious little ones in this moment, I love them already and my greatest desire for them would be that they would discover His righteousness just a bit easier because their mother lived a life pursuing such a thing. It is a humbling thought that my life does not just affect me alone, that my relationship with my Jesus does not just change my life, but every single choice I make regarding how hard I follow after Him may alter the course of the lives of the children that will come in the future. And I would have them enter my life, knowing that their mother adores her Jesus with every beat of her heart! Ah, to discover the covenant that can be had with Him, to do His precepts and have it change not only my life, but all those around me and those who will come, this is worth it all!


This is what I'm pondering on this beautiful, sunny morning:-) Isn't it wonderful to open the Word and have something practically jump off the page at you? Something that you may have read over and over again, but for whatever reason, the Lord whispers, " Look! Look and see what I have for you today!" It's such a beautiful testament to how personal His Word is to each of us...I love that we serve such a personal God. I think this is a truth He's really been pressing into me the past few days, because I keep writing about it, but it's just so true! I love the knowledge that my relationship with Him is nothing like yours, yet if we talk, if we share what He's doing in each of us, our individual relationships with Him encourage and uplift each of us. So, I pray today that you are encouraged and that you will read the above verse and take something totally different from it than I have. I pray for you today, that when you open His precious Word, things jump off those glorious pages like never before! :-) And may you have a beautiful, wonderful, ordinary day full of lots of ordinary little adventures with Him that make the days so interesting...