I’ve been thinking bout what to share since Teni offered me to be her guest blogger. A few days ago I felt like I had something to share but I couldn’t figure it out and how to share it. So, I took the train and headed somewhere and thought about what to write then all of a sudden a thought/question came into my mind while I was in the train, “Why not write about what you’re experiencing right now and relate it to what you’ve learned so far?”. At first I was really hesitant but later on I felt like this message is for someone out there and I hope you get encouraged and learn from it.
When you travel, you pretty much make sure you know where your destination is. Am I right? We have that sense that we don’t wanna get lost. We want to make sure we get to where we’re going in the most convenient way.
Have you ever tried riding a train/bus and you have no idea where you are heading?
I don’t know bout you but I do this most of the time when I’m free. I love travelling and learning and I strongly believe that everyday there is something new to learn and it’s a matter of choice whether we want to learn or not. I love adventures and I seriously like finding my way back or to anywhere I go or in short, get lost. I wasn’t really a risk-taker before, I always played it safe and I made sure I got things done in the most possible and accurate way. It’s pretty much if you would ask me to choose between black and white, I would just choose gray. Then I realised that the only reason why I didn’t wanna take risks is because I was scared. I doubted myself and I didn’t know what or who to trust but everything changes when you can put your trust and faith in someone. There’s peace and security that no matter what you go through, you know that everything’s gonna be okay.
Sometimes we think that life is boring, that we should follow a set of rules in order to accomplish something. It’s kind of like if you don’t play by the rules you’re not gonna get there, you need to strive and make sure you know everything so that you won’t get lost, so that you won’t fail. But actually what do we really need to accomplish?
These are some of the things I realized:
1. In order for you to be found, you must accept and know that you are lost.
If you’ve been living at your house for a very long time, you probably won’t ask directions to get there cause you already know it and you know that you won’t get lost. But if you’re heading to a place that you’re not familiar with, you choose to take the risk and if you get lost you ask for help. It’s that sense of knowing that you are lost so that you can get help.
When Jesus died on the cross, He was thinking about you and me. We were separated from Him because of sin. We were living in darkness and death. We were like sheep gone astray (Isaiah 53:6) we decided to go on our own way, trying to strive hard for life and freedom. We wandered and got lost in the wilderness and in the way the world sees life. BUT Ephesians 2:4-5 says:
"But God’s mercy is great, and he loved us very much. Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace. "
When I encountered Jesus and realised how much He loves me, I gradually saw the true meaning of life. There’s actually more to life than we know and He really does have a plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11). When it all made sense I saw my life like a beautiful book, it’s as if I was beginning to open a new chapter of a brillant masterpiece written by an ever intelligent and powerful Author and I am so excited to move to the next chapter and know more about what’s gonna happen next. Good times, fun times, challenges and hardships will come along. Every morning I wake up not knowing what’s gonna happen next; who am I gonna meet, what will I learn, what will I eat or even what to say, all I know is that every step that I take in this life everything is under control and it’s gonna be okay.
Good news is if we get lost, God keeps looking for us. He doesn’t see our failures rather He gives us new life and freedom. In Him we are accepted and found and He loves us just the way we are. The only thing we need to do is to admit that we are lost, we have sinned and we need a Savior and believe in Christ that he already redeemed us from darkness so that we may be in light.
2. Life is made of choices.
When I decide to do my “adventure trips” I know I’m gonna get to wherever my destination is safely because I trust the driver. The challenging part is I may not know where I’ll end up, but I have faith in the driver and I know that he will try his best to help and drive safely.
It was my choice to have an adventure. One thing I would like to encourage you on is that life is an amazing adventure. It gets exciting everyday because even though you’re uncertain of what will happen, you know and believe that God is certain and in control in any situation. Sometimes It may be a bumpy ride but you know and trust God who is the driver of your life that’s why you have peace, hope, joy and security.
3. How you think and what you believe in will affect your life decisions.
"Choices and actions don’t just spring into the external word from a vacuum. They originate from ideas in the mind."- Dr. Rick Cornish
Proverbs 4:23 says
"Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life."
Yes all of us have the freedom to decide what to do and what to choose in life, but the choices you make will be based on what you believe in. If you choose to see that life is hopeless then probably you’d end up feeling hopeless thus leading to sad and hopeless decisions in life. If you choose to see the beauty of life then you know that there’s more to life in this world. Even though you haven’t seen everything yet, you would choose to keep going on and be excited to experience and share that life’s really a beautiful and exciting adventure. It will lead you to decisions that can cause life and hope not only for yourself but for others as well.
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:17-19)
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Not only is this girl a guest blogger but I can also call her a good friend. Introducing Jessica Cumla, she runs her own blog that you can check out HERE. Who knew that God would have us moving to Sydney around the same time and meeting up with each other like we did. As Jessica talked about life’s big adventure, it’s good to know that God has also blessed us with great people to accompany us on our own roads.