Busy?

Hey guys, I know it's been awhile since I posted a blog - my bad. No, really, it is. I've gotten so caught up in everything else, my responsibility to you guys has just taken a back seat. And, for that, I am so sorry.

Life happens. We get busy and we grow up - get bills to pay, start college, begin careers, so on and so forth. All of these things happen and we start to forget. We forget what God has done for us, what He's saved us from, what it feels like to rest in His peace.

Mostly, people think this only happens when you graduate high school; in fact, some people call it 'graduating from youth group.' But high school doesn't save you from life. People will tell you all the time that, when you graduate, you'll enter the real world. Well, from where I'm standing, the real world isn't really all that different. Situations change but life is life. There's always stress and something that needs to be done NOW.

In the midst of all this, it's only too easy to push God away. Yeah, most of the time we'll still go to church, worship, have a great night, then post something on Facebook. But, after awhile, that starts to be it and our faith is only real to us on Thursday nights. We only care one night a week. Daily we say we're Christians, and we may not curse or gossip or party, but neither do we seek God.

I hold the belief that there are three aspects to our personal walks: prayer, worship, and reading.

It is so important that we keep up with these things! Soooo important. Without it, we start to lose touch with the reality of our faith. We really do. And I'm guilty of it just as much and possibly more than the next person.

You've heard of the 'Ten and Ten' thing, right? Spend ten minutes a night praying and ten reading your Bible? I add worship to this (a) because it's my passion and (b) because He deserves to be praised.

If you think about it, when we worship, it is us pouring out our hearts to Him, telling Him how wonderful He is, thanking Him for what He's done, claiming what we know He is going to do. Reading our Bibles is one of the greatest ways God speaks to us. It instructs, convicts, and directs in ways no friend or loved one ever could. Prayer is a conversation. It is a time for us to speak to Him, to lay our concerns at His feet and beg for His help and forgiveness, but it's also a time for us to wait on Him and listen.

These are the things that usually go first when we get busy. There are things in life that just HAVE to get done, and I know all about that. But I think we look at it with the wrong perspective: we see our devotional time as optional and our responsibilities (homework, work, chores, etc.) as required. Technically, that means we're guilty of prioritizing wrong. We put these other things as more important in our lives than seeking after the God that we claim to serve.

This is something I've been working on and I really just want to encourage you guys too. If you're already good with this, the give the rest of us some pointers ;)

Love you all!
-Brittinni