Thankful Thursday: Keepin' it real...

I legit almost totally forgot that today was thursday and i had to type this..i came online to print out my devos and the flicker of a reminder somewhere in my head just went off..so yay that!

Of course, the progression of that was me realizing that while it's all good and well to have remembered, i have no topic and no theme...

Not to worry though...i thought of what struck me i recent times, and i really didn't have to look far. You see only yesterday, God somehow used a Jon Acuff post (again!) to really touch me...for the past week or two, i've felt slightly apart from God..not in the way it gets when it's bad and i all out drift away..but just knowing that i could do better, but still somehow end up putting off God time and not spending enough time in His presence and limiting it to devotional times in the morning and evening..like, not enough prayer, not enough listening, not enough meditating..and that eats at me somewhat and it kinda makes me feel guilty...

And then came the post...(it's on Stuff Christians Like, btw, about typos in the Bible)..Jon uses Proverbs24:16 as illustration, and it says :Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” 


Then he used this phrase that really clicked with the mood i was in..he said something about how we rate our righteousness in terms of pre being saved and post being saved and how we expect of ourselves that we should be perfect and not fall, and falling is a shameful thing to let happen...okay, those were not his words..but it's kinda the point, and it really hit home with me..and the verse says it clear as anything, that though the righteous man falls...it doesn't say "if maybe impossibly"...That one is righteous does not mean one is fall proof..it is that we get up each and every time and continue what we have started, and God will see you through it..


The second part of what really touched me about the entire post was that Jon keeps it real. Very often, in line with the demands we put on ourselves to be perfect, we project that same image to the world, convincing ourselves that the world expects it of us. Even when we slip up, we put our big girl and boy pants on, put on a brave face and look like we have it together...and then we look at each other, and think that everyone has it together...and enter major panic mode because we think we are shams and we are faking it and we can never never truly hold it together...but it's all a lie and an illusion...


It's always a huge relief when Christians share the real stuff, the struggles, the challenges. Not because we want to stare with mouths wide open and enjoy a spectacle, but because we are all going through the same things, and knowing that you are not the solitary loser is sometimes all the encouragement you need. Sometimes we need to know that everybody, no matter how "together" they seem to have it, also go through the struggles, and you facing a particular challenge does not mean that you're bad or a weak christian or anything of the sort....So keep it real..it's not about running about bemoaning your existence to all who cross your path..it's just knowing when to say look...i'm not in a righteous bubble..there is no holiness shield that keeps problems clean away from me...we all face them the same, we all turn to God and Him alone to see us through our struggles...


*i might come back and edit..but mahn i gotta run!


I am thankful for life


I am thankful for God


I am thankful for Love


I am thankful for my friends


I am thankful for family


I am thankful for food, for cooking...my joy currently knows very few bounds


I am thankful for protection


I am thankful for forgiveness


I am thankful for grace


I am thankful for my relationship with God


I am thankful for Prayer


I am thankful!!