My gerbil and I are vegans.
At our Hope group on Tuesday we had a discussion about how the Lord has us all in a period of transition right now. It is fascinating to see the differences in circumstances between us all, but the struggles are pretty similar. With me, I realized my tendency when I feel out of control(like I was ever IN control in the first place, hello?) is to immediately hop up and respond by saying, “Oh Jesus, I want to do this and this and be like this for You.” I want to do alot of stuff. And the self expectations are pretty high, if you know what I mean. Natalie tells me alot that I am too hard on myself. Something the Lord told me about two years ago and remains to tell me is, “Jess, you do not have to strive; I am preparing the way.”
I am not saying that it is bad to want to change and be made more like CHrist, because that is a wonderful desire. I just know that I have visions - good visions - visions from the Lord, even, and I tend to strive in my own strength to get it accomplished prematurely(works, basically), not accepting that it is definately a process. Then, of course, it sets me up to fall pretty hard and I feel dissapointment in myself. But the beautiful thing about this is that there is hope in Jesus. His Love for me will never change nor is there condemnation. Because of Him I am already free, I just need to learn to walk in it.
He invites me to take up my cross and follow Him. It is a process and one that I do not have to be perfect at like tomorrow. He challenges me for sure, but I know there are times where He is just telling me to receive His Love. In John 15:9 Jesus says, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” Good-night, He is actually saying that He loves me the same as the Father loves the Son…Jesus really does adore us, and He is telling me to abide in His love. The greek translation for this form of “abide” is meno, and it means “to be held, kept, continually; to remain”. Yeah, Lord, I thank you for Your Love that is very great. Thank You that Your arms are always open and that we are not bound to sin and complacency. Thank You that You are not a stoic, detatched being, but that You are the Everliving God who sees and feels and acts swiftly for the sake of Love.