Desiring God

"Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 

 Psalm 73:23-26

    These verses show what a person who has accepted Christ as their Savior from sin's relationship with God should look like. You might have heard before that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship, and this is completely true.

When I was almost twelve years old I started to get to know God like the psalmist did. I had gone on a grirls' retreat with my church, and at it I noticed all these older girls who had such a wonderful relationship with God. It was like the Lord was their number one desire, and that He helped them in their lives. When I noticed all of this, I decided that I wanted God to be like that in my life, too. After the retreat I decided to start having a quiet time and then started getting to know God, my Savior.

Well that's my story, or testimony as you might call it, and it helps make the point that I'm writing about: we should all get to know God, that is what He made us for. It says in Romans 12:2 to, " not conform to the pattern of this world..." in other words don't conform when books or movies or friends tell you that God does not exist, or that getting to know Him isn't worth the time. The verse continues saying, "...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." A way to renew your mind is to get to know God through prayer and study of His word. The last part of the verse goes, "...then you will be able to test and approve what God's Will is, His good pleasing and perfect will."

A big struggle for me is finding out what the Lord wants me to do with my life, or even what He wants me to do during the day in regards to how to treat people or the decisions I make. This verse encourages me to trust God and get to know Him through prayer and His Word because then, it says, I can know what God's Will is. Life is so confusing though, decisions to struggle with are everywhere whether it's deciding if that TV show is pleasing to God, or if that friend is a godly influence or if you should go on that mission trip.

This last example I gave is one that I had to make recently. The opportunity to go on a mission trip to Nicaragua or Guatemala. It was an incredibly hard decision to make, it tested my faith in God to supply me with the wisdom and the spiritual discernment, but He did prove faithful.

I have decided to go on a mission trip to Nicaragua for a month with a group called Adventures in Missions or AIM. I'm excited about going! A month long mission trip to another country will be a new experience for me. I can tell that my relationship with God will be tested. It's a good thing that I've learned that it's amazing how we can learn to trust God and have peace in Him when we get to know Him. Until the mission trip, and during the mission trip I will be learning more and more about how that is true.