Let Go and Let God

Last night was one of the most random nights that has taken place in a while and the place I landed was exactly where I needed to be. There are something about the cliffs in La Jolla that seem to take all your troubles away. As I sat there I thought 'does each wave that comes in and out wash something away'. I was sitting next to a friend and at that point she probably thought I was a little crazy. Each time I have just stood or sat on the cliffs I have had different thoughts come through my head. Last night was interesting because the waves that were crashing on the rocks seemed to become much bigger whenever we spoke of God. At first it was a joke, a big wave came and I said 'really God that was a little scary', but as time went on it became a little more real. You could call it coincidence but I saw it as God letting me know that He was right there and that there was no reason to be scared of anything. At that moment nothing really mattered, one reason I love standing on those cliffs. As we continued to sit there my mind continued to run as fast as it could to the point where I had to write in my phone what I was thinking at that exact moment. I knew that I wouldn't remember unless I wrote it down. This is what I wrote:

Sandcastle being wiped away by the waves. You can build a trench or wall to keep the water away so the castle won't be ruined but at some point the water rush will be too strong and the wall will come down and there will be nothing left. God works in a similar way.

The way I saw this playing out in my head was that our lives are built in this sandcastle. As children we are taught build a trench with a wall around the sandcastle so when the waves hit the sandcastle will stay untouched. We would spend hours trying to make this trench and wall work the best we could and spent so much time perfecting the sandcastle. When what we built failed to protect the sandcastle, it broke our hearts and we felt like we wasted all our time. Maybe this isn't the case for you but as I sat on the rocks of the cliff watching the water rush in and out, that was the idea that came through my mind. You can build a wall to attempt to keep everyone out, including God, but at some point that wall will become too weak and a rush of things will come through. It's talked about so often that once you completely fall and have nothing, that then you can build back up again. I saw that idea a little differently last night in a sense of if that wall isn't up and the water is able to wash things away then let it happen. Each wave of situations that rush up on each of us is a chance for things of the past to be washed away. If we set up a wall the process is longer and more painful because at some point the only thing left is to completely crumble. If the trench and wall aren't built all or some of the sandcastle is washed away. Same thing with our lives, God would like to wash things away little by little but we tend to not listen until something dramatic takes place, at least that's usually how it is for me. Surrendering our lives to Gods plan and accepting the difficult situations that present themselves in our daily lives is key to allowing God to "fix" us. God isn't trying to hurt us or ruin our lives, He just wants to build us up and make us better so that we can better serve Him.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am...strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

This verse has really been on my heart lately and the reason behind that is because of some difficult situations that have been presented to me in the last few days. Reading this verse makes everything seem so much easier. Allowing God to bring us down so that He can bring us back up is so important in our lives. Trying to block Him out or block the people around you out that care about you isn't the way to go. We need to let the waves crash over our lives and as they return back to the ocean allow the waves to take pieces of your past or even the present that need to go. If things are difficult then stop looking at the situation and only viewing it as difficult. Really stop and ask God what He wants to fix in your life or what things you need to change. God doesn't make our lives difficult without a purpose. He loves us enough to fix us. He is one person that truly knows who we are and what we are about but doesn't want to leave us that way because He knows we deserve better. So with all that said, let go of the person you think you are or want to be and let God transform you into the person He wants because there is nothing better than that. God just wants our lives to be centered around Him!

Press On

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)

I am definitely not perfect and I would never try to say I am but I do continue to strive to be the best person I can be. These verses were shown to me and it took me some time to really understand why I was needing the words that came from studying these specific verses. A common occurrence is for me to look at a verse that I am not familiar with and just immediately freak out. As I began to break down what each of these verses were saying I noticed something interesting about the way my life has been going lately. I have had a lot of different problems in my past and some have been causing me a ton of grief lately. "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead", this was the first thing that stood out in my mind as being important. Although so many different things have caused me pain and heartache, it's important to forget about those things so I can move on to what's ahead. I have been stuck in a spot lately where I haven't seen a lot of change in certain things. My world has been changing but certain things have gone nowhere. For me, lessons have come a lot of the time through injuries I have had to deal with in many different scenarios. It took along time for me to finally "wake up and smell the coffee", realizing that God just wanted my life. He still does. He doesn't want me to be panicking about what is ahead or the future circumstances of situations I am apart of right now. God wants me to forget about everything that is behind me whether it was fights with friends, changes in the people around me, injuries, doctors, family, people, or even school. By focusing on the things that are behind me I am missing out on so many awesome things that are right in front of my eyes. I have some awesome opportunities to be walking proof of Gods love and honestly what is better than that!? "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." If this is the goal then those things of the past can alter the outcome or the exhaustion that takes place while we wait for the day that we meet our Maker. Yes, life is hard and God never said it would be easy, but if we keep our eyes and our heart locked on heaven, then the things in this world can never be too difficult. Now with that last part of the sentence being said, we must condition our minds to be able to handle those difficult situations so when they do take place, we are strong enough in our faith to believe that God will pull through. "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." God allows us so many chances to be as close to perfect as we can possibly be. In this verse Paul was clearly admitting that he was not perfect but that he was working towards being as close to Jesus Christ as he could. God looks at each of us as if He was looking at His own son, Jesus Christ. The ultimate form of grace is the fact that all our sins have been washed away and we are given the opportunity to work towards being as perfect as we can be knowing we are loved more than anything along the way.

At this point I am nowhere near where I want to be. I am not perfect and I wouldn't even attempt to claim to be. The goal I have for myself is to strive to be as close as possible to where God wants me to be. It's the goal that we should all have...to be as much like Christ as we can be. I mean really who wouldn't want to live their life like God? God has created us to live in His image. It's in each and every one of us. We must be willing to give up everything to live that life whether it seems like what we want or not. God will shape our lives how He wants, but with that said we have the choice to stay in control and live our own lives how we want or to trust Him and follow His plan. Even when we think we are in control of our lives we really aren't, so why fight it? We must never stop running or straining ourselves, in hopes of one day winning the race and getting the prize!

God Bless,
Taylor