But God

 But God!

I am totally in my feelings right now. I haven’t shared my testimony yet, but… spoiler alert: it took me about 30 years to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Thirty years!! I did ask Christ into my life when I was around 16, but I definitely didn’t live a life that resembled Him. If I’m being honest (and humility matters here), I was serving the world and doing a whole lot of things that had nothing to do with Jesus.

James 1:22–25 tells us not to just hear the Word, but to be doers of the Word. That means living like Jesus—loving one another, helping each other, listening, and not condemning. Jesus didn’t come to condemn us, so guess what? We aren’t called to condemn either.

Matthew 22:37–40 tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and to love our neighbor. And not just your next-door neighbor. In Hebrew, there are two meanings for “neighbor”: the one who lives next door and neighbor as humans in general. That means all of us. Every single one. We are called to love each other, and let’s be real—that is not easy when you’re upset, hurt, offended, or just plain tired.

Loving someone when you think they deserve it isn’t mentioned in the Bible. Loving each other isn’t something we only do when life is easy, people are kind, and everything feels good. Following Jesus means loving your neighbor when they’re being jerks, cutting you off in traffic, or being rude for no reason. Loving the “unlovable” is hard. If it were easy, we’d all be doing it—and we’re not. If you don’t believe me, scroll Facebook and read the comments.

Focus, Jane—back to my feelings. It is my blog after all.

It amazes me that it took me so long to come to Christ. It amazes me because now I understand things so much more clearly. A good friend once answered a question I asked her: “You know yourself so well. What is that like? How do you do it?” Her response was a mic drop moment:
“I know who I am because I know who God is.”

BOOOOM. Read that 900,000,000,000 times if you need to. That hit me hard. Like… dang.

Having a relationship with God—that is KEY. I never understood it before. But even the Bible tells us in James 4 that when we draw near to God, He draws near to us. He wants us (that would be YOU and ME) to reach out to Him. He wants us to use our free will to choose to love Him.

Wait… so it’s up to me to reach out to God? YESSS. He wants us to vent to Him, talk to Him, ask Him questions—just like you would your bestie, your husband, or whoever your person is. Talk to Him like He’s physically there, because He is there. He is a living God. He wants you to want to involve Him.

Once I realized that—game changer.

Jesus is my number one now, and let me tell you… He’s good.

For those who aren’t believers, try something. I just Googled how long it takes to form a habit, and it said around 66 days. Invite God into conversation. Ask Him questions. Be specific (trust me on this). Keep an open mind and be willing to listen.

Sometimes hearing God looks like a feeling. Obviously, negative feelings aren’t the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), so if it aligns with those fruits, it’s probably God—at least in my experience. Some people hear God through music. Sometimes God speaks in dreams. Sometimes He uses a friend or family member to deliver a message. Don’t put God in a box.

Pick up that dusty Bible and give it a real read. Read it daily. There are Bible plans everywhere. Give that church you’ve been thinking about a chance. Focus on God first and see what happens. Give yourself—and God—66 days and see what changes.

If you choose to do this and want support, I would love to know about it and walk alongside you in your journey.

I was gifted a 52 Week Bible in a Year by an amazing friend, and my first thought was, “WOW!!! I am going to learn MORE about GOD!!!” In that moment, God gently reminded me of where I am today and where I once was. I was a nonbeliever—rebellious, rude, selfish, and prideful. I cared about Jane and Jane alone. I never would have been excited to learn more about God.

And now? Like… wow.

But God. He changed everything—for the better. TYJ!

God bless,
Jane


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