My Year with God

In early August of 2012, I decided to spend a year with God. I honestly didn't expect much. I simply knew my life was broken and needed some revamping. What I learned, how my heart changed and who I have become are things that were far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Here are a few things I learned.

God Wants All of You.

I am the most stubbornly independent person I know. I take pride and joy in doing things on my own. I often times can do it all with ease. What I have learned is God wants so much more from me. He desires a relationship with me.  If you have been following along with my blog, you will know that I hit some major life changes over this past year that were completely out of my control. My life came to a point where I had to decide; Fight to stay afloat (when I was drowning) or give it all to God. I chose to give it all to God. Every part of me. My life, my decisions, my future all to God. But above all with wide open hands I gave Him my heart. This is where I felt the change start and my life turn for the better.

"Return to me and I will return to you." 

Malachi 3:7

God is Speaking

I am the type of person who believes in miracles, with one stipulation: They never happen to me. I believed that God can do all things, just not with me or for me. Part of my year with God was focusing on reading the Bible everyday. And slowly, I heard what God was trying to say to me. As I read through the Bible I often times would run across a verse that meant so much to me it would change my perspective in a positive way. Then more frequently, I would come across those verses everywhere across the day, multiple times a week. I always wanted to hear an audible voice of God that would tell me what to do. You know, that booming voice fall from the heavens above: "JENNABETH - GO..." It was around this time that I realized that God is speaking to me in so many ways. I just needed to be ready to listen. He has a message ready and waiting for you. Perfectly tailored for your life. Maybe it might not be in a verse in the Bible. It might be in something simple like a perfect day or in a situation working out smoothly when you thought it would be hard. If you just keep those eyes and ears open and your heart ready, you will be able to hear what He has to say.

Life Isn't Perfect, Neither Am I, Just Come as you are.

Throughout my life I usually waited to talk to God. I felt like my life either needed to be perfect and I should praise Him. Or on the flip side, I would turn to Him when life was too hard. What I have learned is that God doesn't want us to wait for the stars to align and for life to be perfect or for our lives to fall to pieces. God wants so much more than just praise or prayer requests. He wants to be in a constant conversation with you.

Prayer

Being in constant conversation leads me straight into Prayer. Prayer should be constant and convincing. God wants you to speak with your heart. Just like in any relationship you have your highs and your lows. Truthfully, some of the closest moments I have had with God were when I was mad at Him. Its okay to show your true self to Him, that's what He wants to see,

Pray before: Asking God to go ahead of your day. God is with us, but it certainly can't hurt to know He will go before us, preparing each moment for us.

Pray often: Don't be afraid to pray while at work, in the shower, during a meeting. Keeping God in your day is important.

Pray quietly: Taking time to remove some distractions of the day and really truly seeking Him in moments where life won't distract is important.

Expectations
Have a Little Faith! God can do amazing things. Don't talk to God hoping He will come through for you. Believe and expect that God will come through. He can do HUGE things in your life and in the lives of others!

Read The Bible

Have you ever wanted a written manual for life? When the road ahead is divided and you need to choose: left or right? When you meet a nasty person and want to know how to deal with them? Well the manual is already written with lots of examples for how to get by. I can not even begin to tell you how often I read through the Bible and a single story jumped out at me that fit perfectly into my current situation. It was in those moments I could relate to God and begin to have faith that there really is more to the Bible then just stories.

"The Word of God is alive and Powerful" 

Hebrews 4:12

Gods Got my Back.

Don't worry about what lies ahead of you. When you're not certain what will come of your life and you feel like you haven't accomplished all that you have wanted. When things don't turn out the way you wanted them to... God might have something even better planned for you. I literally thought I had lost everything I ever wanted over a year ago. I thought all of it would bring me true happiness. The truth: I wasn't happy at all. I didn't even see how unhappy and lost I was until it was all taken away from me. It was only after I cut all of the bad out of my life that I could really truly find God and ultimately, happiness. I may not have all that I thought that I wanted. Rather I got so much more; A heart full of joy, full of love. A heart for God.

Listen, Hear, Say "Yes" and GO

Don't loose this opportunity. God is speaking to you. Don't be distracted by the idols of your heart. Prepare that heart of yours for God. The last week of my "Year with God" I took the challenge to be "unplugged". I knew that God had something to say to me. That I needed to quiet my heart. So I took a week off of Facebook, Instagram, anything with a screen that could pose for a distraction. I spent that time reading the Bible, in prayer, praising God, and asking Him to help me to "Listen, Hear, to say 'yes' and to go." I can not even begin to describe all that I heard. Take a challenge, spend a day just away from social media and all the distractions of our world to just be in conversation with God. You might be surprised for all the things He has been waiting to say to you!