Gaining Strength in Christ
Hey hey friends!! When I recorded this episode for my podcast it became one of my most listened too!! Which was so exciting for me, I love sharing what God has done in my life, I hope it also encourages you!
Before we get to the part about how you personally can gain strength in Christ, I first want to share some of the things that happened in the last year that have helped me to depend more on God.
So, lets get into it!
The Last Year(ish) of my Life
Church
So for two months in the last year I was not gaining any type of deep spiritual knowledge.. In short, I wasn't being fed spiritually. At this time I had been at my families church and while this place is the right place for my parents it wasn't for me. Y’all I truly suffered.
I would leave church literally feeling soo so tired and mentally cloudy. I will not say that there is a perfect church, because there isn't, but all of the pieces that my spiritual life was built upon was not part of my families church. For me going back to my families church was a backward step for me, because I had grown further in my spiritual walk.. So I was in a place that wasn't feeding the depth of who I am as a spiritual person. To expand on this a huge piece of my spiritual walk has been community. Y’all we were made for community. Living as christians, following the will and word of God in community, with people who are unashamed of the things that they have been through, REALLY expands the way we experience life. Because you learn that no one is perfect and you can not expect them to be. Doing community well creates a deep sense of vulnerability. I am not at all putting community over God's word, no. But when we have community and word combined, lives change.
When we have community and word combined, lives change.
Relationships
I had to begin to distance myself from people who were not going to take me closer to God. I learned this one the hard way. There was a person in the past year God did not want me around.. but I sadly did not listen because no one else felt the same way I did around this person. I am a really spiritually in tune person (also enneagram 4) and whenever I was around this person I would feel drained and tired. You could tell that there were walls between us because of the spiritual person I am and the baggage this person was carrying.
I dont mean to be getting so deep, but this is important.. so on one occasion we were all together and I very clearly heard the spirit say “watch where you place yourself.” I went back to my room and God took me right to 1 Timothy 4:16 “watch your life and doctrine closely. Preserve in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers”
The people and things we allow into our lives can deeply influence the people we are and who we will become. To be honest in the times I was around this person I was not resting well spiritually and could have very well been why it was even more difficult to find spiritual rest at home.
Y’all you don't have to be friends with everyone, sometimes you just wont fit with a person and that is totally fine. Not everyone is supposed to be in the intimate parts of your life. God will place good people around you.. pray that His will be made full in your life.
Now just because we wont always be friends with people does not mean we shouldn’t disciple people. It can be a hard road to walk, and people may use the fact that they won’t be friends with everyone as an excuse not to be part of peoples lives, but no. Friends we can still lay a seed in these people's lives; we are called to be a vessel.
The Big Move
Another big thing for me in this last year was wanting to move to Arizona.. this was my big goal after graduating. The thing was that I was only trying to prove to myself that I could be independent.. I had honestly talked this up so much as well, for at least a year! It was honestly my plan. I think we all do this in different ways. We try to prove our independence to ourselves or to God when really He just wants to help us.. So God kept me me here in Virginia. I have slowly, as in last week, come to grasp that this will be home for a while. I like for things to go my way and being in Virginia was not it for me, but so much good has come from me being here.
The Other Bigish Move
The other option I had come up with for myself after graduating, was to be part of the RUF internship. Y’all RUF is dear to my heart, because I love the way it can impact a college students life.
I would have been able to encourage students daily in the word and the truth of our great Father. I LOVE being a voice to God’s children.
All of my interviews went so well.. but in the end they didn’t chose me. What I find so magnificent is that when I got the no, I cried. Though I wasn’t crying out of sadness, but joy. I knew deep inside that God had a greater plan for me. I felt a sense of peace after receiving the email. Even though this is something that I wanted so bad, I realized how GOOD God’s no was.
Rest
God pushed me to rest, real quick, and it wasn’t easy. I was going away from what He has for me, following the world and their affirmations and not following His will for me.
I was wanting to do things without him and this caused me not to find joy in the things that I once LOVED doing.. like blogging and YouTube and even caring for myself as a whole person. I learned in the last year, that I had never had true rest. I was doing a lot of things that I loved to “rest,“ but I never had true rest. I was “resting“ because it was something I knew I should do and not because I was giving my all to God, this is how we find true rest. To be honest, I’m still learning this. I have been working on truly finding God in every moment, because I know that each moment is so precious.
A Guy
I had been talking to a guy and he told me he wasn't ready to be in a relationship. I was totally fine with this, who ever I end up being in relationship with needs to be confident.
But standing in church, a few weeks later, as the clock hit midnight into the new year, he walked over to the girl he was in a past relationship with. I knew how he felt in this relationship.. He had told me how he couldn’t be himself with her and the ways he lived in sin throughout this relationship. We had talked about the ways we’d grown in throughout 2018 and what we had hope for between the two of us (this was before he had told me he wasn’t ready.) So twice in a matter of four weeks I was totally blindsided by him. The second time worse than the first time.
So I was hurt and discouraged because this is the opposite of what I understood from God. I was hurt because he said he wasn’t ready, but instead ended up in a past relationship. I‘m hurt because I gave a lot of myself really quickly and that’s not normal for me. But we learn to heed His call through trial and error. I felt this discouragement deeply because of the emotional person I am. While my mind wants to hate him because of this, my heart says no. Y’all my heart is so pure. I can’t help but forgive.. holding any type of hatred would hold me back from God’s future blessings.
Honestly in this past year I have learned to go deeper within myself. I have come to understand my emotions in a new way. I have come to understand that my way is not the best way and that Gods plan is better than anything I could ever make up, even if it is sometimes difficult to get through.
So God said no. Over and over again, but in the last year I truly had more joy than I have ever had in my life.
So now I want to share some things that you can start doing even right now to grow stronger in relationship with god and that will enable you withstand the ways of this world.. I am not saying that everything will always be all fine and dandy because it wont be, but these things will help you to stand up and stand firm against what the world throws at you.
1 Peter 5:9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. 10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
Growing Firm in Christ
1. Read God’s word!! Let God’s word be the foundation of your life! You're probably thinking I already know to do this. What I need to know is how to make it stick. Find a way to study the Bible that is unique to you. I love writing all throughout my bible. In highschool I learned to talk to the text, it was a way to make things stick in our brain. You can do the same with the bible. The bible is God speaking to us, so speak back friend!! Write all over your bible! Do whatever you need to do to make God’s word stick to your heart.
2. You have to WANT to be changed by God’s word. You have to wholeheartedly surrender your will to God. This won't happen overnight but it will happen if you are consistent in wanting this. Continue to pray that God’s will be done in your life. I’m sure I ask him a couple times a day cause ya girl likes her own ideas! Haha
3. Find community.. When I put myself out there to be in community, I learned really fast that in the suffering I was going through, that there are others out there going through the same thing. Don't let shame isolate you.
Now I am no community guru, but what I’ve learned about having/finding good community is that you have to know that no person is going to be a perfect friend all of the time, nope not even you. You have to be willing to understand that we are all growing at different paces
4. Jesus is your friend!!! God is not some distant being.. He wants to be with us!! He wants to commune with us and be part of our lives! Talk to him the way you would a best friend.. if your angry, be angry and tell him why you’re angry. He cares!!!!! Let Him mend your heart. He wants to hear your voice. You’re precious to him.
5. Learn ways to help you release toxins and negative energies; ways that are unique to YOU! I personally loooove to journal. Once we get what is taking up space in our mind out we are so much more free. Don’t let those negative emotions, feelings or thoughts stay inside of you. You have to get them out.. that can be through having an accountability partner or someone who doesn’t mind listening to you, through working out (hiking, walking, play outside with your dog, swimming, whatever it is for you.)
6. ASK GOD IN SINCERITY TO BRING OUT EVERYTHING IN YOU THAT IS NOT OF HIM. This takes some real gut work-to work towards being the person that God would have you to be. When doing this we have to care for ourselves really well. It’s important we know how to care for the person we are before we ask these things. Otherwise we are beaten down and it will be much harder to rise without ways to care for yourself. Also have people in place to help you!!
7. Be constantly encouraged. It helps me to listen to different encouraging podcast and sermons on top of my own personal bible study. This will keep you in a state of recognizing Him.
Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ
8. Practice gratitude. Actually be thankful for everything in life. Count everything as a blessing. I am crazy thankful for each trial, because I know they are for an absolute purpose.. everything that happens in our life is blended together make a story only God could create.. This life was never supposed to be easy. Know that, it’s not promised anywhere in scripture. It's not easy to be changed from the inside out, especially when we have allowed sin into our life.
I learned that my joy isn't circumstantial, but eternal.
1 Peter 4:14 Count it a blessing when you suffer for being a Christian. This shows that God’s glorious Spirit is with you. 15 But you deserve to suffer if you are a murderer, a thief, a crook, or a busybody. 16 Don’t be ashamed to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God that you belong to him
9. REFLECT ON AND REMEMBER WHERE YOU HAVE COME FROM. God has done amazing things for you. If you can't think of anything.. literally him going to the cross and rising from the DEAD is enough of a reason to KEEP GOING. We have to want to live like Christ.. otherwise we won't change.. actively seek his heart for your life.
10. Find your way of worship!! Worship is not just standing in the aisle at church belting out the lyrics to your fav song. It's the way you love your life. Until you are willing to love your life this way.. not much will change. My favorite way to worship God is to be out in His creation
The way we live our lives should be a reflection of the joy God had when he said we were good way back in the beginning.
My friend, I hope this encouraged you. I hope you are able to walk away with ways to grow in Christ despite the harshness of the world we live in. Our God is a good good God. He cares for you friend!! Have an amazing day!