right now.

It took about a pound of jello fruit salad and marshmallows for me to realize that I'm stuffed. Not only do I feel disgusting now from so much sugar, but I also feel like I'm about to explode from bottling up so many emotions at once. I am a stuffed person. And I want to empty it all out. Not the salad, the heavy weight on my chest that's making life so hard to live. The heavy weight that I keep adding to with worries and guilt. Conviction and secrecy. Evasion of the truth and selfishness. I talk a lot about letting things go. Going with the flow. Trusting that God has me in His hands. Do I live that life? Certainly not. It's something I long for like nothing else but I don't quite know how to achieve it. I keep thinking that one day it will just click and all of the sudden, my worries will be gone. My stress will disappear. Like magic. Poof. It evaporated into thin air. How is that a good plan?!

I need to start owning up to my own unhappiness and stop waiting for God to fix everything for me. This is my confession. I don't pray. I don't read my Bible. I don't journal. I don't talk to my accountability partner. I don't seek advice from my mentor. I don't address the issues I'm faced within a timely manner. I don't listen to my heart when it tells me I'm convicted. I don't listen for God when He's trying to reach me. I don't sing during worship. I don't actually give anything when I serve. I space out when I'm listening to a sermon. I judge people and I lie. I gossip. I cheat. I'm not available for those who need me. I don't care. I treat people with hate instead of love. I'm greedy. I'm selfish. I am not pure of heart or mind. I sulk. I'm lazy. I'm vain. I care too much of my appearance and how people view my life. I sin. Every day. If I can't take care of those things by myself, or ever acknowledge that they are all problems directly related to my motives and my heart, how can I expect God to swoop in and save me? Really? If I'm not willing to bring these problems to Him and ASK for help? It's not possible. I don't repent. I need to ask for forgiveness. And my whole life I've just expected to be saved without any effort on my part. 

Jesus. I'm sorry. I am a selfish person. I don't want You to be in control of my life because You may not lead me where I want to go. It's not helping me. Please help me. I want to change. I will change. I will start seeking You daily. I just need to know that You'll be waiting when I come looking for You. I don't want to live like this anymore. I will not allow myself to abuse Your grace anymore. I will no longer worry about what tomorrow will bring because I know that whatever I'm faced with, it's from You. I will start listening to You. 

I know there's a verse that goes along with that. Worrying. It's not good to worry. It doesn't do any good. It only shows my lack of faith. 

Matthew 6:33-34 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Seek His kingdom. Jesus, from this day forward, I will do my part. I will stop my apathy and I will make a difference in my own life. Because really, how can I make a difference in the lives around me like I want to if I can't even clean up my own mess that I've created? Seek His righteousness. I want to be whole. I want to be pure. I want to be filled with forgiveness and trust and grace. I want to show love in all that I do. I want to follow You, Lord. Every day. Starting right now.

little me.

I don't know how You did it. God, you are amazing. My heart is bursting with love for You and I know it's only because Yours is bursting with love for me. Little me. When you're so unfathomably great. You took the time to love, and then die for, little me. That concept blows my mind. Why would You do something like that? For someone like me, who falls so short of Your glory, so unworthy of Your sacrifice. 

If you think about it, we are nothing. We are flawed. Broken. Dirty. We have no right to exist. Everything we touch, we ruin. Nothing good comes from our hands, and in our hearts - anger and hate breeds like sudden deadly fire, never easily put out. We are imperfect and we deserve death for our sins. Deserve it. So how are we rewarded eternal happiness in the arms of our Lord? It doesn't make sense. It shouldn't make sense. In this big picture we can never fully see all at once, God doesn't make sense to our small minds. Everyone falls short of the glory of God. Yet we are allowed to enter Heaven. Why?

Jesus Christ. 

God, in man form. Born in this world, never of this world, a perfect being. Not a blemish to His wonderful name. I can't think of a single day that I went without sinning. Jesus went His whole life. No sin. Not only is that remarkable all by itself, but then add the self-sacrifice for the most ungodly creatures ever created. Us. Jesus DIED for us. He took our sins to hell and left them there so not a single person would ever be damned again. His own father, our Heavenly Father, condemned him so that we would be pardoned. So that little me could go to Heaven and spend the rest of time in the presence of my creator. 

This story would mean nothing if it weren't for today, too. Easter Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead to take His seat at the right hand of God. My God is alive and He is alive in me. Nothing is impossible for Jesus. He beat death, He saved my soul before I was even a breath of a thought, and He loves you more than you could ever possibly imagine. So rejoice in the resurrection of our savior today. For without Him, we would be lost. I would be lost. Thank you, my awesome God, for taking the time to love and die for little me.