More from the retreat

Hey guys I'm back, just wanted to share a little bit more from the retreat i went to at Sky a couple weekends ago. I'll sum up what I'm gonna talk about with this quote I made up during a moment of being thrilled with the Lord and his power.

"I've discovered that I love and even at times desire the feeling of brokenness. It reminds me of who God is, everything I'm not, yet all I hope to be."

Have any of you felt that way? Have you ever wanted to be broken for the sake of Christ? Ever considered it a blessing to suffer, to share in the sufferings of Christ? it's an odd feeling. but great at the same time. At the retreat (and a long while before that) my heart was, and is, broken. Broken for people who don't know Christ, who don't love Christ, or who just don't want a part of him. several times during worship we sang a song called "Beautiful Jesus" by Kristian Stanfill. Y'all heard it? well, i never had until the retreat. anyway, when they sang that song, we sang the chorus over and over and over again:

Beautiful Jesus,

Beautiful Savior,

nothing is greater,

Brilliant Creator,

Friend of mine.

Perfect in power,

matchless in glory,

nothing is greater,

Brilliant creator,

Friend of mine.

I just kept thinking in my head about people who don't have what I have, but they CAN! my heart broke more and more with each word i sang. it brought me to tears and in fact, before the song was over, i was weeping out of a broken heart and hurting soul...for others. now, i am a sinful human just like everyone else, so that love and brokenness was not of me, it was of the LORD. he allowed me to experience it to move me to action for his glory, even though a lot of times i take it for myself.

on a related note, think about how much we take for granted EVERY DAY. i bet every one of us could make a list of the things we don't think to be thankful for and it would be as long as, well, i don't know something long! sorry guys my analogies are lacking, i'm dead tired here...anyways, things like waking up every morning. God is perfectly capable of bringing you home whenever and however he wants to! we don't think about that all the time! every morning you wake up is another chance to serve him, serve others, love him, and love others. it's something i know i take for granted, but i'm working on it.

So, for my challenge to y'all (i feel like i always challenge you with something, so i'm gonna keep it up), every day you wake up, make GOD the very first thing you think of. Wake up and think or even say, "God, THANK YOU for waking me up this morning, for giving me another day to live here. I'm making this day about you and your glory. Help me do that today." Focus on him. just try it. make him the joy you have in waking up early, just because you know the fact that HE woke you up for a PURPOSE. so live like you know it!

-Alexa