...... oh, and thank You, God

Have you ever noticed that sometimes, in your life, especially on one of those good days, that it is so easy for God to become an afterthought? I just experienced this a little bit ago. When I got on facebook and was about to post something to my wall, I was like oh yeah, thanks God for the wonderful day. I was truly grateful and I knew that He had made it a beautiful day, but my mind doesn't always go directly to God.
It should though! God is the one who makes days great. He's the one who makes days bad. He blesses me and takes away from me, and no matter what He chooses to do, my mind should always be on God. It should always be listening for His voice, discerning HIS will for my life.
GOD SHOULD NOT BE AN AFTERTHOUGHT! He is almighty God, King of the universe, your creator, my creator, and the one who has control over all things! Every minute of everyday, I should be sitting in awe and wonder of His grace, majesty, and love, not giving Him a few thank yous and pleases throughout my day. It just doesn't seem to fit when you think about ALL that God is.
He is my King, my Lord, my Provider, my Savior, my More-than-enough, my Jehovah-Jireh, my all-in-all, my Friend, my Father, my Peace, my Joy, my Love, my Fullness, my Deliverer, my Completeness, and my EVERYTHING! God is everything to me. If I lost all I had today, I would still have ALL I needed cause I'd still have God. God should be my everything, every second of my life.
God CANNOT be someone I thank when my life is going good, if I remember to, and someone I plead with when my life is going bad. He should be the first thing I think about when I wake up, the last thing I think about when I fall asleep, and the one thing I constantly think about in all the moments in between. I should be so overwhelmed with thoughts about God that the Devil can't even creep into my mind. It should make it impossible for me to sin and if I do, I immediately feel absolute remorse for it.
It is so hard to have God on your mind constantly though. I know. It's hard to keep our minds on one thing with all the distractions around us each and every day. There are so many other things that try to steal our attention, but God is fighting for that attention too. God shouldn't have to fight for your attention. It should be our instinct to always give God our attention first, then move on to the other things.
One song that I love listening to asks God to make them broken, empty, and lonely until He is their "One Desire", "One True Love", "Breath", and "Everything" and it also asks Him to keep making them. That is what I want. I want God to be all and for Him to keep making me. I know God's power can do anything, so I pray earnestly that He will be the first thing my mind ALWAYS goes to no matter what!

Easter is happy time...... the reason we celebrate it is not

Tonight my youth pastor was speaking for the second time of a three week series about how the resurrection changes everything. Tonight he decided to focus on the crucifixion though. He took a different angle than anyone would've thought, but it spurred some great thoughts in my mind. One thought I had was this: "The ABSOLUTE joy of the resurrection was intensified by the ABSOLUTE suffering of the crucifixion."
This thought held me suspended in thought for a few moments. If we thought about all the suffering of the cross and tried to imagine how it would feel to be broken and so COMPLETELY forsaken the way Jesus was, if we imagined the pain, sorrow, and feeling of completely lostness (yes I know that's not a word) that His followers experienced that DARK day, Easter would be an all out celebration!!!!!! I'm not talking about the candy, easter bunny, or even egg hunts that we have today. No, I am talking about an all out, amazing, and loud worship session for God that celebrated His victory over death and over hell.
The Bible tells us that Jesus  now holds the keys to death. It makes me think of the song that says, "Oh death, where is your sting? Oh hell, where is your victory? Oh church, come stand in the light. The glory of God has DEFEATED the night. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh hell, where is your victory? Oh church, come stand in the light. Our God is NOT dead. He's alive. HE'S ALIVE!!!!!" God cannot even be overcome by the grave.
Wow! What a hope that should give Christians. If God can DEFEAT death, how much more can He help you defeat and overcome and fix stuff in your life? God wants to help you conquer everything in your life. He loves you and He wants what's best for you and He has a great life planned for you!
I may not be a fan of happy endings because I'm tired of them, but this is one happy ending that will never get old and that will always bring tears to my eyes, because I know it is what brought me back to life again. This is a happy ending that I certainly did NOT deserve and yet God has chosen to give me the free gift of life in His son. I could not conquer anything without Him, and yet He has given me the power to DEFEAT the grave and Satan forever.
Do NOT forget the suffering that Jesus had to go through before the resurrection. This Easter, before you go on an easter egg hunt or before you start digging into your candy, take a moment to realize what God went through to make it such a joy-filled day of celebration!