Faithful Fridays ~ Bring it to Him.

Happy Friday, everyone!  :)  Or I guess I should say Happy Weekend...life's been a bit crazy lately, and Faithful Fridays somehow have ended up happening on Saturdays and Sundays here and there.  :)  But I want to thank you all so much for the prayers for my aunt!  It's been amazing to see God answering all these prayers and showing His power in her--she went home Thursday night, just a week after having brain surgery.  Crazy.  She's been talking, and moving some, even on the side that the doctors had said would be paralyzed.  Can you say God is great?  :)  She has a road of physical therapy ahead of her, but God's already brought her far and I can't wait to see how He keeps bringing her through this!  :)  Thank you so much for your prayers!  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their walk with Jesus on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

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Have you ever been reading the psalms and become sort of confused by the fluctuating tones?  The psalmist can jump from celebrating God's love and faithfulness, shouting his thanks from the rooftops, to being down in the dumps, in the depths of despair, groaning to God, asking why he's been abandoned.   Not exactly something you expect from great men of God, is it?  

Or is it?  

Because I think everyone--especially teens, and teen girls--faces the rolling storms and emotions and struggles of life, and the stuff the enemy throws at us.  We face insecurities, doubts, fears, sin, failures, feelings, questions, stray thoughts, worries--all that stuff that makes us pull away from God. The psalmists faced those like any other person--sure, their struggles were probably different from ours, but they were struggles nonetheless.  There are times when I feel like getting up and having a dance party because Jesus is so amazing, and there are times when I just want to curl up in a ball and ask God why.  And yet instead I find myself shrinking away from God in doubt, and resentment, and I end up just being cold toward Him.  



The psalmists faced this same rollercoaster of life--the highs, the lows, the struggles, the victories, the fears, the heights--and they came to God in every. single. bit of it.  That's true prayer.  That's true intimacy with God.  

Because don't you know that in any good relationship, the secret is that the two people in the relationship bring everything--their frustrations with each other, their problems, their fears, their emotions, into the light, to each other, in open honesty--and then they work it out together.  Why should we do any less with God, the perfect one who reached down to scoop us out of our sin when we were at our lowest?  Jesus didn't come to save us when we were good, or faithful, or deserving, or loving Him, or doing the right thing--He loved us when we were dirty, still in our sin, not wanting Him, certainly not deserving Him, not being faithful, just living in our rebellious human nature.  And still, He loved us.  So why do we hesitate to bring all our stuff to Him now? "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.  His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7 God is inviting you bring it all to Him.  Tell Him what's troubling you, even if it's about Him.  Don't lean away in doubt, lean forward in trust.  Run home, even if you're scared.  The prodigal son had done his father wrong, but in the end he realized it and came running home.  He wasn't expecting much of a welcome, but he was bringing his best--and his father, who loved him relentlessly, welcomed him joyfully.  So come to Him with your everything, good, bad, and ugly.  Come to Him with your questions; His word is truth and it can answer them.  Come to Him with your struggles and your insecurities, your weaknesses and failures.  Lay it at His feet and tell Him you need Him, you can't do it on your own; cry out to the One who loves you!  It's not too big or too bad for Him.  Just bring it to Him and surrender it.  He's your safe place to hide.  Run home into the arms of His love.  
I come with my broken song To you the perfect One, To worship You in spirit and in truth, Only You. You're the reason I sing,  The reason I sing, Yes, my heart will sing, how I love You! -"Simplicity, Rend Collective ********************************************************************************* God bless you guys and have a great weekend!  :) Joy :)