Sustenance

I apologize for the fact that it has been quite awhile since my last post. Life has been rather busy. Great, but busy. Now things are winding down significantly- it's kinda crazy! My senior year is almost over! So I came to write today with the intentions of explaining how God has sustained me through this year. How he has been SO GOOD and given me exactly what I needed to make it through each and every day. But then my devotional from the other day changed my mind. In Oswald Chambers's book, My Utmost for His Highest, the devotion from May 16 speaks on "The Habit of Wealth." I advise you to go and read it here. I also recommend the devotional if you are perhaps looking for one- it has changed my perspective on a lot. Anyways, back to the main point- I feel as though saying God has given me exactly what I needed to make it through the day isn't really giving him enough credit now, is it? For awhile, I thanked him for it but was almost surprised by it. It caught me off guard that even as hard as things were, I made it through. And it was all because of him. But I'm beginning to realize that that's exactly who God is. He is our daily bread- we can't get through this life without him. Or at least, not the way our life as we are meant to have it (John 10:10). When Jesus died for us, it wasn't so that we would have what we needed for the day. It was so that we may "have life, and have it to the full." As Chambers writes, "We think it a sign of real modesty to say at the end of a day - "Oh, well, I have just got through, but it has been a severe tussle." And all the Almighty God is ours in the Lord Jesus!" I think I needed a little reality check- maybe I haven't been looking at the full picture. I saw the foreground of the picture, but completely failed to notice the beauty and brilliance of the rest of the painting. I've been needing to give God a little bit more credit. I've looked at my blessings and said, "Thank you, God for helping me to survive through fill-in-the-blank." But really, he hasn't been just helping me survive. That's not his style. He's been helping me to thrive. My new goal is to open my eyes to the abundance I have in God and remember to thank Him for everything he has given me. Time to take off the blinders.

"Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.
How priceless is your unfailing love!

Both high and low among men

find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light."

-Psalm 36:5-9