We Are Receiving Even While We Are Giving?!

It has been far too long since I last posted, but maybe it is a good thing. I spent the holiday weekend at Timberwolf Lake in Michigan. It was a three day span of much need personal growth and realization, and a great time of bonding with my peers. I couldn't have asked for more to come from the weekend; I had a huge prayer answered. Then to really top off the weekend, I had a great conversation with my next door neighbors (whom I had never met before) about my faith and career goals. Perfection!
Anyhow, today I have decided to post two really neat lessons I am learning, and one really cool analogy that I feel perfectly, or as close to perfect as possible, sums up just about everyone's faith walk.

Lesson number one:
This lesson is something that is for my own personal growth and work. I had been aware of it earlier, but this weekend it really showed through how much I need to work on it. It is the simple fact that I need to start listening more and talking much less. I don't mean just stop talking and only listen. What I have learned is that while I seem to be helping people with their problems quite frequently, I need to really start listening to them. I need to not only listen and give feedback which is what I have always done, but listen in a way that I can really, really feel for them and exude love back to them, the love that they need. Then there is the talking part (this part is going to be hard, and more crucial). I need to start talking less. Yes, my gift of gab is inherently a huge part of my personality, but I am learning that maybe I talk so much that it is hurting me and others spiritually. I need to start talking less so that when I do talk, people really hear me and value what I say. Currently, so much of what I say is wasted. I talk about so many unimportant things, it is incredible.

Lesson number two:
When you have really given your life up to Christ (and often times, before this without us realizing it) and when we do service as part of His will for us, we receive much more than we give. I don't have a specific example for this, but the thing that I am learning is that when we see He is with us in all that we do and give, we are growing in Him. We are receiving much more in our spiritual life, in terms of joy, peace, love, and any other gift you can think of, than we are giving in materials, love or service. We could be exuding all of the love we have to offer while doing acts of service, but during them, we are receiving much more from Him, as He is supernatural, than we could ever give, as we are only human.

Last, the Amazing Analogy:
To start off, sorry for another Ashley Judd reference, but "All that is Bitter and Sweet" is too good to not quote! She describes her God concept as this, "a beautiful, mighty, flowing river, which I realized represented God's will. I thought of myself and how sometimes I wade right in, abandoning myself to the care and protection of God's will without hesitation. Sometimes, though, I sit on the riverbank, stuck in my self-will, watching the river flow right by, unwilling to take the steps necessary to put me in the graceful currents. Other times I step in, but only to my ankles, back turned on the river, staring at the bank, thinking about why I can't have it both ways, self-will and God's will. Or I come to God as I did tonight on my knees, crawling, begging for it."
To me, this could not sum up walks in faith with our Creator any better. As you probably know by now, about six months ago is when I really decided to let go and was in my form of being on my knees, begging for God's will for me. Also, as you may know, I am a Young Life leader. This entails teaching high schoolers who do not know or are disinterested about Christ's love. We also disciple those who know of His love. In doing this, we get to witness and help students through the struggles we all have. Since the time I had my "come to Christ moment" (or year rather) and began working with high schoolers, I have really seen the obstacles you can face as a follower of Christ; the obstacles that have us sitting on the riverbank or only ankle deep. Chasing after Christ is definitely not easy. As some people I know say, there are mountain top experiences in our walk with the Lord, but there are also very deep valleys. I like the above analogy because it clearly states why we have such experiences: our hesitation. It is basically the self and world versus the supernatural. We have to chose one, and often times it is oh so hard because we are in the world, the river, and forget that it is actually God we are in, He created the river and the world and all its glory. I believe this generally happens because the world is sometimes much easier to see and to hold on to, yet if we let go, the supernatural will really be so much more rewarding and refreshing.

So to sum things up: I need to sincerely listen, I need to stop wasting God's gift of speech, I receive much more than I give, and often times I just need to let go, but my faith walk will always have struggles.

I am currently learning so much about myself, others, and my faith. Much of which has been from "All that is Bitter and Sweet", then, ironically enough, reiterated soon after during preaching at services and things like camp. Funny how that works!

(***Thank you to Ashley Judd and "All that is Bitter and Sweet" for the majority of this post! Trust me, these thoughts are very prevalent in my life, but definitely not original to me! Also, if you are thinking I am obsessed with Ashley Judd, you will soon learn that I get like this with certain women, but I like to see them as role models or inspiration rather than an obsession.)