You Lift Me Up

The song "You Lift Me Up by The Afters" has recently touched my heart, in a very unique way. The first verse says, "Waiting for the sunrise, waiting for the day, waiting for a sign that Im where you want me to be." Towards the beginning of the summer, I prayed a prayer over and over again, saying, "God, please show me my purpose. I want to serve You and if what I wan't isn't what You want, then I don't want it." I can't remember how many times I prayed that, but I can assure you it was quite a few. And I kept praying it and praying it, but I didn't get any "answers". I was very close to giving up. I thought, "Okay God. I keep hearing that You will help me and show me answers, but I keep praying and you aren't giving me anything back. Come on now." I almost gave up, but I was like, "Im just gonna keep on. I don't know if I will get anywhere with this, but we will see."

I am so thankful that I didn't give up, and more improtantly, I am SO glad God never gave up on me. All along, I am pretty sure God was looking down at me saying, "If you can't hold on to me now, how can I trust you to hold on to me later in life, when I entrust you with something far greater than anything you have ever experienced? Hold on, and I will reveal myself to you." God works in very marvelous and mysterious ways...

In Isaiah 55: 8,9 it says, "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts" No matter how hard we try, we will never know 100% for sure what God is going to do in our lives. But that's where faith comes in. We have to put our faith in God, and trust that He knows what He is doing, and that we just have to search for him diligently and wait for Him to reveal His plan for our lives, step by step.

Right about the time that I was thinking I would give up on searching for God, I encountered Him in many mighty ways. After praying so many times for God to reveal Himself and His plan for my life, to me, He did that and more. God showed my what He wants me to do, at 2 camps, a mission trip, and a conference, this summer. He called me to step up, get out of my comfort zone, and start living a life that points EVERYTHING to Him! No, this is not the ideal thing to do, but it is what God specificly (and I mean very specificly) wants me to do. After God kept grabbing at me and saying I need to step it up and be a true leader, I prayed for help. I prayed for God to show me everything I needed to be this leader He wants me to be, becuase at that point in time, I couldn't have even lead a horse, if I needed to, I was so ill-prepared.. And sure enough, a few days after I prayed that prayer, God really started moving in my life. Every sermon or bible study or devotional I was apart of from that day forward, there was at least one if not more things that God showed me to work on in order to be His leader.

It is very true that God can take the faith of a mustard seed and use it to move mountains. After asking God to reveal His plan to me so many times, I had the smallest most tiniest bit of faith a person could possibly have, and thank God, He took that and used it for things I couldn't have ever imagined! I have learned to put all of my faith in God, becuase, even though many "friends" in the past have let me down after I put my faith in them, my God has NEVER EVER EVER let me down, and He NEVER EVER WILL! I was weak after praying that prayer over and over again, but God still lifted me up.

Every day, God lifts me up, over the things that I can't get myself over. When I am heartbroken and I feel like nothing can go right, He wraps His arms around me and tells me it will be okay. His love truly carries me, and that is why I was able to let go of all the things that were hindering me from moving forward with God, this summer, which were insecurities, facebook, and a friendship that I couldn't control.

An intimate relationship with God, takes time, and patience. Getting so close to God, didn't happen over night. I promise. God will do this in any and everyone's lives, but He has to test your faith, to make sure you are ready for what He has planned for your life. Give yourself up to Him, I promsie you will never make any better decision.