Eyes on Him.

2 Peter 1:3-11 says, "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Recently my pastor shared this scripture and it has been weighing on my heart. I had been toiling over various things that I wanted to accomplish and wondering how I could ever fulfill goals I envisioned for the future. I found myself frustrated because I want to increase my time in prayer and in the word, as well as dedicate time to writing and growing in other creative areas but with little time to spare. My cry to the Lord (more like whining) sounding a lot like, "How can I do all of these things? From the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed I barely have 10 minutes to spare. Whether it be anything involving taking care of the kids, making meals, cleaning up the house, grocery shopping...the list seems endless. Even if the baby naps, Leilani doesn't and it just seems like I barely have a minute to myself! What if I can't do all that You want me to do, what if I am just not good at it!?"

I got all that out and felt the Lord reply, "Stop focusing on how you are going to do anything, stop focusing even on what you want to do and start focusing on Me. You cannot give to anyone what you do not receive yourself."

Um. Whoa. The scripture from 2 Peter is pretty deep but there is one main thing that has stood out to me. It is telling us to add all of these things to our faith---virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. There is a reason why we need to add these things to our faith...because we need to grow in our own understanding of the Lord, His ways and His truth so that we can then be effective and productive by extending what we have received to others from a place of utter and complete love that comes from being transformed by Him. But it isn't about toiling over the "how-to's" or striving to do more of anything other than coming face to face with Jesus and allowing Him to consume you.

Press in with a steadfast heart and don't give up! Grab ahold of Him today. Grab ahold of the heart of your Father who burns with love for you. Ask Him to show you more of who He is for you, so that you can show who He is to someone else.

Psalm 46:10-11 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."