Presence over Practice

Something amazing about the presence of God and His faithfulness is that it never runs out, it is always grounded and true. He is worth trusting because he IS the Truth and he always remains the same. (Hebrews 13:8 and John 14:6) Trusting Him at first always feels like a risk to me, it’s against the world’s view, it’s against what my flesh actually wants, and it is not always the best timing. Another thing about His presence is it’s not forced in the slightest bit. He is always calling out to you in a gentle way, but will never force you to choose him. (Psalm 18:35, Deuteronomy 30:15) He will always choose us, but we have to actively choose him every day and every moment, leaning on Him and using his strength and not our own.

The other day I felt so productive, I got so much done. It was sunny, I was in a good mood, I had coffee with a friend, I had a good workout, and I had a nice quiet night. You may know the feeling of how good it feels to have a day like that! Regardless of what a good day looks like to you, you’re pumped up, you’re feeling proud of yourself, and you want to know how you can do it again. I happened to take my ADHD medicine that day and I gave that the power of “allowing” me to have a great day because I was productive. But I was more than just productive, I was surrounded by good company, and beautiful fall weather with colorful trees, and I fit things in my day that I’m passionate about. I laid down for bed that night, turned the lights off, began to talk to God, and realized I had gone my whole day telling people the sole reason for my good day was some medicine. There are so many things in this world that are helpful, but we cannot give them that power that they ultimately just do not have over you. This can go for more than just my example but with people, jobs, activities, sports, negative thoughts, habitual sin, anything! Anything can become an idol in your life. So when I sat there in bed, I was in complete awestruck that I pointed those friends to a worldly source of fleeting satisfaction and not THE source. And myself too!

Being able to consciously live through the life-altering awareness of God’s love, His grace, and His provision doesn’t just take “practice”, it actually just takes faith and consistent trust.

In my humanity, when I am feeling off or when I am in a rut, I search and scroll (mostly on Pinterest) for new healthy habits to implement and while it does give me a kick of inspiration and motivation, it sure does not last using my own capabilities.

But when I begin reading the word of God and taking my time to spend in his presence to just be still every day, it becomes 1) something I look forward to 2) becomes the center of every aspect of my life as I begin to acknowledge and invite him into those spaces 3) I begin to see him in the mundane, everyday things 4) I begin to thank him when things go “wrong” because wrong vs. right is subjective when God is directing your paths! (Proverbs 3:5-6) Anything that goes wrong in our plans could be leading us to what is right in His plans for us. This is why I am always led back to being in prayer constantly because when I am, I notice how much more in tune I am with the Holy Spirit in me and seeing the beauty in things, looking through His lens.

So, recently when I have been in a rut and wondering why I can’t do all of these things to better myself that I know are good and “just, pure, lovely, and commendable” (Philippians 4:8), it’s because I’m not going to the source consistently to get the strength and wisdom that I need to get through the rut with His help. In this world, we can cling to self-help gurus instead of having Godly, real conversations with a good community. And we can all be addicted to ‘doing’ when He has got the ‘doing’ covered. Doing all of the things we think we should will not fix our problems, filling our hearts with the Word of God will. Our situations may not change but we can always change how we deal with and cope with them through spending time in His presence, discerning His word, speaking to Him, spending time in worship, and surrounding ourselves with a Godly community.

QOTD: Will your responses and decisions be shaped by fear of your incapability or will they be shaped by a celebration of Christ’s sufficiently?

<3,

Amanda