My journey to falling back in love with Jesus...
New love isn't always intentional, it just happens, but love isn't always
an emotion, it takes work. Too many times people give up on love when it gets
too hard and they look for it elsewhere, somewhere that maybe 'feels'
easier...that's crap…and that's definitely NOT love. One thing I'm
learning in this journey to falling back in love with Jesus, is that I have to
be intentional. There are plenty of things and people that will make me
'feel' good or distract me from my purpose, but true love takes work and I've
already started to see the payoff of that work in tiny little ways, which gets
me so excited when I realize it has only been 2 weeks.
So what does love look like? When
you get past the initial feelings of being ‘twitterpated’ as we learned about
in the movie “Bambi” – how do you make sure to keep your love alive and
relevant in your life? I know when I
started this journey 2 weeks ago, I was so stoked on it. I definitely was ‘twitterpated’ in my love
for Jesus. As the days went on, it got
harder and harder to remember that initial feeling. I definitely had to be intentional about my
journey to fall back in love with Jesus.
Every morning I would wake up and know that I had committed to declaring
my love and thankfulness to God on Facebook.
But as the normal struggles of life hit, and some not so normal
struggles, it became apparent that I would have to stretch outside of myself to
come up with things to say. It didn't mean I didn't love God or wasn't thankful for him in my life, but I had to
remind myself that when things were tough that God was still there and still worthy
of my faith and my trust. It was truly
amazing how it really did get me through the hard days!
Psalm 119:36 – “Turn my heart toward
your statutes and not toward selfish gain”
Lately, I have seen so many relationships and marriages around me
crumbling because one or both of the people involved decided that their own
personal ‘happiness’ was more important than choosing to love the person that
God had in their lives. I have watched
so much hurt and suffering that has come from broken promises all in the name
of ‘happiness’. Really it is all in the
name of selfishness. It is tragic and it
breaks my heart to see people give up on love, because they weren't ‘feeling’
it anymore.
Phillipians 2:3 - “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain
conceit. Rather, in humility value
others above yourself.”
It gives me a lot to think about as I daily choose to love, not only God,
but the people in my life who are difficult.
If I truly love them, it should be all about what I can do to be there
for them and their happiness above my own.
It isn't always easy, but I am finding that it is always rewarding!
Matthew 5:43-45 - “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell
you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may
be children of
your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and
sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
I really am just excited about this journey I am on and I know that if
God is doing this much in my life in the little time I have been obedient to
him, he has to have so much more in store as this becomes not just a project
but a life change of love and obedience to him.
By the way – if you are not on FB but you want to read my daily FB posts,
I have been posting them as comments at the end of my first blog! Otherwise you can follow them on FB at: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.springer.5
