Seeking.

This past week I got the opportunity to go and enjoy worship and fellowship with a group of some very cool people.  I can't remember what song we were singing at the time, but the Lord just kept putting the word, Seek, on my heart.  

Isaiah 55:6-8 came to mind. 

6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 

 

As I was sitting there and just praying over this verse and trying to understand what I was supposed to learn from this, these were the key thoughts I had;

We are pardoned.  

Seek the Lord.  

God is always near.  

He won't abandon us.  

He is merciful.  

His thoughts and ways are higher and wiser than ours.  

He has a will for my life, specifically for mine.  

He has never changed.  

He never will.  

 

Seek:  to go in search of :  look for, to ask for 

I've been struggling lately, if I was a cool kid I might even put a #thestruggleisreal in there somewhere.  But seriously, life is hard.  Pasts are hard.  Jesus is better than all that though.  

For we are pardoned. 

Clean.  

Sought after.  

We all have such potential, if we don't let ourselves get in the way.  

 We are supposed to seek God and lately I find myself seeking so many things besides Him.

I use my past mistakes as an excuse for my present ones.

 I think we need to all realize that all we have from our past is a great testimony. 

For God doesn't call us to walk in our past, our shame or regrets! 

I am extremely thankful for His love and mercy.

Let's stop seeking excuses and start seeking Jesus. 

Control.

Control. 

It's a very funny thing.

We all desire it. Whether its over a thing, a situation, a person, or our own life.

Sometimes control is what we need the least.  It can harm us, or the people around us.  Yet we will all still chase it.  It can make us crazy, even paranoid. It can make us say words we don't mean.  Do things we don't realize.  

Sometimes when we try to hold that control so tightly it just makes it slip all that much faster.  

Then we panic. 

We're losing everything and yet there's nothing we can do.  We grab at random, whatever is closest. No matter who or what it may be. When in reality, the only thing we should be reaching out to should be Jesus. But we are flawed and human. And that's okay.  

Lately I've been struggling with control.  Control and trust go hand in hand.  Trusting in God is honestly like a free fall. Sometimes its uncomfortable. Sometimes its terrifying. Most of the time its pretty amazing. Its like you jump off of a cliff and you don't know if the water at the bottom has rocks or not, but you know that whatever happens it'll be okay. 

So why do we have so much problem giving that control away? 

Its because we're all just really near sighted. We sadly can't see what God has in store.  

And so we try to take our own futures into our own control. Which in the long run makes it about a billion times harder.  This week I'm working on being less controlling, because it doesn't help anyone. 

Matthew 10:29-31

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.