“My
choice is you, God, first and
only. And now I find I’m your
choice! You set me up with a house and
yard. And then you made me your heir! The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m
not letting go.” Psalm 16:5-8 (The
Message)
I really do have a
good thing going on with my relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I know I do, so I wouldn’t attempt to navigate
this life any other way. I don’t claim
to be perfect nor is my life perfect, but it is greatly improved from the days
when I tried to live this life under my own power.
I was born into a
Christian home and grew up going to church.
I learned the Bible stories they taught me. But what I didn’t learn until later is that I
am God’s choice, that He set me up for success, and gives me wise counsel. All that was in His word, but until I dug in
and really checked Him out for myself, I didn’t know what God meant to do with
me. I found out that He has plans for
me, and you too. He does not want you
bumping around aimlessly in this life. He
wants to give you a hope and a future.
(Jeremiah 29:11) When I found
that out, I had a choice to make. I
could keep going the way I was, or I could choose to take Him at His word and
do life His way. I chose to trust Him, rely
on Him. I decided not to pick and choose
my way around the Bible, but to study it, get it into my heart and live by it. When I decided to do it His way, my life
started to change.
So what changes took
place when I decided to trust God? If
you are a regular reader, you know some of the miraculous things that have
happened in my life. If not, I’ll just
say that everything improved.
Everything. God’s Word is the
guideline by which I live my life. He is
my standard. He is first….not my
husband, and my identity is found in Christ before anything else. God is the filter by which I view everything. He has given me spiritual eyes and that allow
me to see that the old junk that was within me has passed away, and all things
have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). I
see others differently too….I actually love people. THAT
was a surprise! Not that I hated people
before, but I admit it was very easy to be apathetic about issues that I deemed
‘not mine’. Now, my empathy with others
can be downright inconvenient.
In Him, I have experienced
a newness of life. It is so good that I am
not going to let it go. If you need a
change, try Him. Once you get hold of
what God’s got for you, you won’t let go either. I’m
sure of it!
