This is Our Purpose || guest post

I love seeing how God works through and inspires my younger siblings! This post was written by my thirteen-year-old sister, and the truth in it is something I continually need to be reminded of. This is what true productivity is; this is what is truly important.

Enjoy!


♥   Hosanna Emily

 


Dear Friends,

Last week was a very stressful time for me as I’m sure it was for everybody (I mean, when do we not have a stressful week?). I was diving into some online college classes, which is still very new to me and letting them get between me and God. Instead of spending time with Him, I would study. Instead of talking to Him about my struggles, I would ignore them and keep studying, kind of ignoring my spiritual life altogether. Then He began to nudge me.

When was the last time that I was your actual priority?

Um…oops. That was my reply! I couldn’t remember the last time I had set aside myself and my grades to draw closer to Him and give Him my life. I thought about that for a few days but never actually did anything about it. He kept nudging me.

What does it even mean for you to be a Christian?

Well…a Christian is a Christ-follower, right?

Yes, are you following Me?

Well, no. Not all the way. But you see, God, I have some studying that I really need to do…

No. You don’t. What’s really important for you right now?

To serve you.

Are you serving Me, or serving yourself when you spend hours studying without even thinking about Me?

It hit me, and I had no way of turning back. I had let the devil change my life and slowly lead me away from God so much that He wasn’t my priority anymore. To tell the truth, I kept thinking about it without actually doing anything. (I’m guilty of that a lot!)

That was Sunday, and that night as we gathered with a few other large families, they talked about that very subject and how Christ ought to be first in our life. I kind of stayed silent the whole time and felt pretty guilty, so the next morning, as soon as I woke up, I went outside to a quiet place with my coffee and Bible and praised God (for me, praising God means telling Him how good He is and thanking Him for some things). I felt this huge burden lift off of my shoulders, and all the stress totally disappeared.

I counted, and at least 4 different types of birds were chirping in the trees; I realized that we are supposed to be like those birds. Our job is to forget all of the stress and let God do the stressing for us. Our job is to hop from tree to tree just singing away with all that we are and with all the voice we have.

I find it’s a common trend in the Bible… all the people that were really close to God spent A LOT of time doing nothing but praising Him! Some examples are Matthew 11:25, Exodus 15, Joshua 5:14, and almost the whole book of Psalms!

So I encourage you to choose a time, any time of the day, and every day during that time be like those little birds and push aside all of your distractions and praise God for Who He is.

I will extol You, my God, O King;
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
And His greatness is unsearchable.

- Psalm 145:1-3

(psst!) How are you going to rest in God and simply praise Him today? Let's share below! 

~♥~