Our NEED for God, His COMPASSION for us...

So I arrived in Raleigh at the hotel that we are set to stay in for the next month. Bags in hand and suitcase on the cart. I walked into the place that would hold many memories, tears, fellowship, laughs, devotions, and much more....ALREADY.  Never would I have ever expected within just this first week that the Lord would have wrecked me so much. BUT HE HAS. Learning and experiencing more of how Holy God is and how sinful I can be. It HURTS. I'm not going to say that everything feels good. I've been so convicted. I've learned that I like be in control and have everything work a certain way and smoothly. It bugs me when things don't go as planned. I also worry a lot about what others have to say about me. I want to do things the way others would want. I have a hard time saying no. I over think way more than I should. I tend to be a little self-righteous at times. I don't know how to manage money well. I could go on and on! But there is no need, because I can't fix ANY of these things. ONLY GOD CAN! Brothers and sisters when we recognize how sinful we are, we recognize how much we NEED God. WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING IN OUR OWN STRENGTH. We can't make ourselves Holy and righteous, only GOD can. Let me tell you something SO GREAT! Our awesome loving God meets us right WHERE WE ARE. In the story of the Prodigal's son in Luke 15 starting at verse 11, the younger son asks his father for his share of the estate. The father gives him the money. Not even a few days later the son gets up and goes to a far off country and spends ALL of the money. Not some, but ALL! A famine strikes and he has nothing left. He tries to fix the situation and get a job feeding swine. He was so hungry. He was so desperate he wanted to eat what the pigs were eating. But no one would even give him that. He finally came to his senses, as it says in the Word, and realized that his father had more than enough food to feed him and everyone else. He was too scared to go home at first because he had shame. In those times, the jews would smash pots in front of you and wouldn't let you come back to the city. That was their way of saying they didn't want your mess in their city. He was scared. But he came back anyway. When he was far off from home, the father saw him and RAN towards him. Now wouldn't you think that if you spent all of the money your dad gave you, that he would scold you right? That he would be angry? NOPE! Not this Father! This father EMBRACED his son and even when the son said that he had sinned against the father and that he wasn't worthy to be called his son, the father proceeded to clothe him in the BEST robe with a ring and put sandals on his feet. Then he celebrated because the son came home! Y'all this is how God reacts when we come to Him. There is no CONDEMNATION in Christ. He is not scowling at you! He is smiling and happy that you are return to him. He DELIGHTS in us! He LOVES us! We tend to beat ourselves up when we mess up. We try to fix things ourselves. When a relationship isn't working out the way that we want it to, we try to do all of this stuff to make it work. When we mess up on our job, we tend to go the extra mile to PROVE that we are doing a good job. When we fail, we feel like a failure. Brothers and sisters you are NOT A FAILURE. You are a child of the KING! In all of our brokenness HE wants us to come to HIM! Lay everything at His feet! Let Him make you whole again! If we were perfect and had everything together we wouldn't need Christ. Focus on what Jesus did on the cross! He was beaten, mocked, scorned, bruised, condemned, etc... so we would not have to bound by our sin. We are FREE in JESUS! Lay all of your burdens, worries, stresses, etc.. at HIS feet! Let HIM embrace you! Let Him CHANGE you! Surrender ALL unto Him! He is WAITING with open arms and tons of compassion for you! Just one of the many things He is teaching me. Pray this encourages you. Praying for you and with you! Grace and peace be with you friends.

First blog post

Hello everyone! I'm pretty new to this blog thing, but just wanted to post to try it out before Raleigh. I will be serving in Raleigh this summer and will be posting my experiences, what God teaches me, etc.. here. The purpose of this blog is so that God will be glorified! I don't care if you know my name, just as long as you know HIS! Love you friends! Grace and peace be with you!! -Mazie J.