Lessons!

I am celebrating one year of being saved and I wanted to share with you 12 things that I learned in 12 months.

The first thing that I learned is that I find my worth in Christ and in nothing else but Christ. This is something that I am constantly learning about. It is so important that as Christians we do not try to find our worth in people, money, relationships because it is so easy to fall into that trap. One thing that I have realised that these things never fill you up so you spend your time seeking for something that will never satisfy you and before you know it you find yourself seeking for more but remaining empty.

God is the only reason I am breathing; I mean that is obvious but one day this thought came to my mind that I depend on God for everything including the things that I don’t even think twice about. We can’t function without God and something that we are blessed with every day, it is a privilege for God to breathe his life unto us every day.

Intentionality with God starts with you! This is something that I had to come to terms with, yes God wants a relationship, and his arms are always open to us but we also have to put effort in. You have to make that decision to surrender to God because our God is such a loving God, he is never going to force you to do anything. You can pray for strength and ask God to help you when you may not feel like it but at the end of the day it is up to you to make that choice. I told myself that the times when I don’t feel like spending time with God is when it is absolutely imperative that I have to spend time with him that day. If we are not intentional with God, it would be difficult for you to progress in your relationship with God.

The true meaning of the love of God!coming from someone who really suffered with shame and guilt growing up I never really understood the love of God. I always thought that I needed to do something in return for God to love me and that mindset always pushed me away from God because I believed that I was not worthy. However, God has been teaching me in the past year the true meaning of his love which is that I don’t have to do anything for him to love me. The popular verse John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God does not love us because we do something for him or because we follow a protocol, but he loves us just the way we are, we don’t have to prove anything because he loved us before we even loved him. 

What it means to surrender your life to God.This was hard for me especially during the times when I told God that I would change my ways and surrender to him only to find myself back at square one. Totally surrendering to Christ is not comfortable it means that you have to unlearn somethings, you have to subject yourself to God. Jesus is a perfect example of what it means to totally surrender to God, when reading about Jesus’ life I realised the way he communicated with God the Father – he constantly surrendered to him. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said “My Father! If it is not possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine”. What I love is that Jesus knew what was about to happen yet he could have easily made a decision not to go through with it anymore but he was so surrendered to the Father that even in his suffering he was able to put aside his wants to follow the will of the Father.

Not every instruction from God will be in your comfort zone.This one hit me pretty fast, when I first got saved God would tell me to do certain things that was wayyyy out of my comfort zone and to be honest there have been many times I have been confused as to why me. God is so awesome that he sees the things that we don’t see (Isaiah 55:8) and he knows that if we continue to stay in our comfort zone then how would we be able to grow and try new things. Even if you feel like the task that God has given you is too hard remember that God will not leave you to figure it out by yourself he will help you along the way so just put your trust in him.

God is an intentional God! I will forever stand by this. Have you ever looked back on your life and said wow everything just aligns? sometimes as we are going through things, we are not able to see the full picture of what God is doing. One of my favourite bible verses is in 1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything completely, just as God now knows me completely”. I remember growing up and I didn’t understand why a lot of things in my life were happening and many times I lost hope, but it was all for a reason. As human beings our knowledge is limited so we may not see an end to what we are going through but God always makes a way. Even if you feel like you may have strayed away from God’s will, he is so merciful and faithful that he will work everything out for your good and in the end, he will be glorified.

There is nothing like condemnation in Christ. I spoke a bit about my experience with shame and guilt when I was growing up and what I now know is that if it is condemnation it is not from Christ (Romans 8:1). He will never condemn us and that is a lie that the devil uses to push people further from God, but Jesus will never die for us so that we could still feel shame and guilt. We are able to feel convicted and that is from God because everything is supposed to bring us closer to God and not further away from him.

No matter how much you don’t want to forgive someone, you have to! This is something that a lot of people struggle with in our generation, many people don’t like the idea of forgiving people who hurt them. I used to think of myself as a forgiving person until God started to reveal to me that there were people that I still needed to forgive, it is so easy for someone to think that they have forgiven someone when all they have really done is to stop caring and I’m not saying that all you should think about what the person has done to you 24/7 but I understand that forgiveness comes with forgetting a situation and still loving that person regardless of what they have done to you.

Christianity is not peaches and cream!  Before I came to Christ, I had this idea that everything will be smooth sailing as soon as I gave my life to Christ and boy was I wrong. I found myself questioning a lot and it is not easy but the only thing that keeps me going is Jesus. it’s the fact that I could be having a horrible day and I read the word and it gives me peace. In John 16:33 (another one of my favourite verse) Jesus says “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”. This bible verse gives me peace that if Jesus Christ overcame the trials and tribulations when he was on earth so can I and it gives me strength to carry on even when I want to give up.

God wants a relationship with you! I am an advocate for this, sometimes people feel like they have to hide themselves when they get into God’s presence, but God desires a relationship with us. He doesn’t want you to just tick boxes, but he wants to talk to you, he wants to know about your day, he wants you to tell him what has been annoying you. Trust me, God cares even about the tiniest detail and I always say that God is the only one that does not get annoyed at me when I babble on and on because he loves me like that. Talk with him, laugh with him don’t reduce spending time God to only in your secret time but include him in your everyday life. 

Nothing can ever stop God from loving you! This is something that I have been recently learning. There is nothing you can do to stop God from loving you absolutely nothing! Sometimes we give ourselves too much credit thinking that what we have done is going to stop God from loving us we need to come to an understanding that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39). When I think of that it makes me fall more in love with God because I don’t have to prove anything to him, I don’t have to act a certain way I can be myself and God loves me as I am and that is truly comforting. 

Love you all and most importantly God loves you!