Chapter 6 of 'Crazy Love' was all about falling in love with our Savior. It's so easy to see God as this enormous being with just a bunch of rules and regulations, but even the rules and regulations are made out of his abundant love for us and setup to protect us from some obvious consequences and even some that are unforeseeable. I love the way Jason Gray describes how an ideal relationship with the Lord can be, "More like falling in love than something to believe in, more like losing my heart than giving my allegiance." Are you in Love with Jesus? Have you lost your heart? One of the best parts of Chapter 6 was that even the days we aren't feelin' it, we can pray and ask God to put that passion and love in our hearts. How awesome is that? What if you told your spouse, "Eh, I'm not really feeling very in love with you today." Most spouses are not gonna say, "Oh, honey, thats alright, how can I help you be more in love with me today?" Haha. I know I would be uber-offended. LOL But not God. His love is that unconditional and unfailing he is even there to help us love him more. Matthew 7:7 says "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
I love Music, especially worship music. It ministers to my heart so much. That is definitely a way I go to the Lord and spend time with him. I meditate on the words of the songs. So many songs are on my favorite list, but different songs minister to me at different times. Right now I am focused on just falling in love with the Lord and building that intimate relationship with him. Phil Wickham's song "Divine Romance" is the most beautiful love song. You can listen to it on my play list.
The fullness of Your grace is here with me
The richness of Your beauty’s all I see
The brightness of Your glory has arrived
In Your presence God, I’m completely satisfied
For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love, to show my love
A deep deep flood, an Ocean flows from You
Of deep deep love, yeah it’s filling up the room
Your innocent blood, has washed my guilty life
The church is the bride of Christ and one day when it's all said and done and our "wedding day" comes, I hope this is the song of our "first dance" together. What a beautiful celebration, it will be. Think of all the amazing weddings money has bought on earth. Imagine what the Creator of all things has planned for us! The colors, the Angels, the saved souls, the WORSHIP! And most importantly, our Father on the throne. It's gonna be out of control! Can't wait!
God has been so incredibly faithful in recent weeks. In the Bible, God tells believers to test Him in one area and that is the area of giving. Malachi 3:10 says, '"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!"' Have you tried it? Have you taken that leap of faith in your walk? I can tell you God has blessed us with so much and it's not always monetary. Sometimes it's an answer to prayer, sometimes it's in restoration of relationships. To be honest, we should just do it cheerfully because everything belongs to the Lord anyway and he commands us to do it, but how awesome is it that he will bless us for it?! I know for many, including us for a long time, it seems impossible to give 10% and you won't be able to afford it. Friends, you CAN'T afford not to. It's a system that makes no earthly sense, but has priceless heavenly rewards. I have seen so many friends struggling financially and we have BEEN there, bought the t-shirt. Had our gas turned off, maxed out every single credit card we had, had a night we didn't know how Josh was going to make it home at 3 am bc we didnt have a penny to our names. We were 92k in debt. Almost $100,000 in debt at 21 and 24 years old! When we decided to get on the Dave Ramsey program we decided we would start to give to God, too. How? We was BROKE with a capital 'B'. So the first month of our new plan, we gave $25 a week and we were freaked out about that. The next month we bumped it to $50 a week and eventually worked our way up to 10%. In 2 1/2 years we cut our debt in half and saved a small chunk of money. God opened doors right and left for us and we've even been able to start a small business in one of the worst economic times our country has seen. God also brought much peace to our marriage and restored our relationship where it had been damaged and brought us closer than we had ever been. I earned a trip to Hawaii during this time, also, so Josh and I got the honeymoon that we never had, ALL expenses paid. I give ALL the credit to the Lord. Some days it still doesn't make sense to me, but the Lord's plans are the Lord's plans and we're along for the ride. Trust me, your flesh can work as hard as it wants, if it's not in the Lord's plans it aint gonna happen and even if God does allow you to wander down your own path it's nothing compared to the plans God has for your life when you desire to be in his will.
Funny, when I started this blog I had no intentions of sharing our little journey. Most people who know us, know it, but I just felt led to share it. I hope it encourages at least one person who hasn't taken that step of faith or is maybe struggling with their finances. God WANTS to bless you. Do you have kids? It gives me ridiculous amounts of joy to take my little girls shopping. They love pretty clothes and new accessories for their kitchen or a new game or new book. They LOVE it. They definitely get the shopping bug from me. Shocker, I know. God is the same way, he LOVES to bless us. Step out in faith, friends. You won't regret it. You CANNOT outgive God.
oh and BTW Giving is a form of worshipping the Lord. So this blog totally makes complete sense and flows! Have a phenom weekend, Lovies!
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