I read in book once about a woman who longed to live a life of adoration towards the Lord. And to grow in this pursuit, each day her and her kids would go through the alphabet and speak out loud characteristics of the Lord that left them awe-struck.
I tried this the other day as I was walking the dirt path behind our house. And as I walked and went through each letter, I was surprised how quickly words came to my mind and I was so blessed by the joy I felt when I returned home.
A__ is for Awe.
B__ is for the way He makes me Brave.
C__is for His Commitment to His glory and to my joy.
D__ is how He Died on that cross for me.
E__ is for Everlasting Eternity.
F__ is for His Faithfulness
G__ is for His Goodness & His Glory.
H__ is for the Hope that I have because of Jesus.
I__ is for His Indescribable love towards me.
J__is for His Joyful obedience that led to my salvation.
K__is for His Kindness.
L__is for the way He Leads me.
M__ is for His Majesty and for Him Making all things new.
N__ is for my Need for Him, every hour of every day.
O___is for Omniscient, the way He knows all things.
P__ is for Praiseworthy.
Q__is for exQuisite.
R__ is for the God who Redeems, the God who Remembers.
S__ is for Sweet Salvation.
T__ is that is Timing is always perfect.
U__ is for the Underserving mercy He lavishes on us.
V__ is for His Victory over death.
W__ is for His Wild grace.
X__ is for eXtravagant love. {Ephesians 5}
Y__ is for Youthful, how He never ever gets tired of being my father and forgiving my sins.
Z__ is for Zealous.
I am finding that the pursuit of Christ is the only true source of my joy.
"God alone is our peace" Ephesians 2:14
"Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You!" Psalm 63:3
I want to learn to be more in awe of God and less obsessed with self.
It is good to know who I am in Christ. It is even better to lift my eyes continuously up to the great "I AM."
To be God-focused in a self-focused world challenges me daily.
What do I really want__ to fight the good fight of faith and joy, or to fit in? To be transformed by the renewing of my mind, or be conformed to the patterns of this world?
If I'm ever wondering why I'm lacking joy, I can almost always come to the conclusion that it's because I am lacking AWE__ Awe in the endless wonders of the One who made everything.
It's okay when the temporary just doesn't satisfy; it wasn't meant to. Our joy doesn't need to be wrapped up in weekends, vacations, and everything feeling right with the world; we were made for more. So, image-bearer: Invest in the eternal because you are meant to be a love-bearer...to be changed and be the change in the one thing that doesn't come to an end. {Ruth Simons}
Some days I feel so out of place. How grateful I am that we were made for so much more than here.
But while I wait for heaven__
"It is my eager expectation and hope, that I will not be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."{Philippians 1:20-21}
