A New Dimension
"So...I want to know." She turned around from where she was sitting in the passenger seat and looked back at me. "When did you fall in love with Jesus?"
I wasn't expecting that question, but I was delightfully surprised that she asked. I smiled and began to think as I looked out the window of the backseat.
"Well, it is hard to pinpoint the exact date. I guess you could say the first time I really loved Him was when I gave my heart to Him when I was eleven years old. But that was really just the beginning."
I paused for a moment as my mind went through all the spiritual milemarkers of my life.
"Then there was junior high when I began to read my Bible every day and develop a faith of my own. But it wasn't until high school when I had an eating disorder that I really discovered an intimate person relationship with Him. No, that's really when I fell in love. But actually, now that I think about it, I just thought I was in love. It was actually last semester when I really really fell in love with Him because I didn't have a boyfriend and I learned to depend on Him to meet all those needs and desires. Then again, just last week I had a growing experience with God. It was then that I realized I was even more in love with Him..."
My friend just smiled as I rambled and kept changing my mind.
"I guess I don't know how to answer your question. I could say I fell in love with Him nine years ago, or I could say I fell in love last week. It just keeps getting better and better. I feel like it can't get any better than this, but that's how I felt at every point in my life along the way."
One of my favorite things about the Lord is how He does that. He gets better and better and bigger and bigger as we grow closer and closer to Him. With every season of life, He does something new in us. He takes us to deeper levels and newer dimensions. Just when we think we have reached the mountain top, He leads us to a higher peak. Just when we think we have completed the picture of who He is, He stretches the canvas and starts filling in the blank place with brilliant colors.
This is what sustains me as I look ahead to my first semester in nursing school. I have never felt so intimidated by a task in front of me, but I know that this is an example of God starting something new. I know from the pattern of my life that whenever God starts something new, it will always result in beautiful, glorifying growth. As crazy as this new endevour (called nursing school) appears, I expect that I am going to learn how to trust in God in ways that I have never had to do before. I believe that I am going to fall even more in love.
If we dig down deep, I think we can all find something new happening in our lives. It may be obvious - a new semester, a new job, a new marriage, a new role, or a new house. Maybe it is not quite as obvious, like a new interest or a new friendship. A new pet, a new baby, or a new hobby are enjoyable while new struggles, new obstacles, and new heartaches are difficult. We all think new thoughts and feel new emotions. Even if life seems to be the same as always, could our realization and discontentment with stagnancy be something new?
Whenever God places something new in our lives, He is planting a seed. New sunshine, new stormy rains, and new seasons bring forth new growth. God wants to be something for you now - at this exact point in your life - that He couldn't be at any other time in your life. He is doing something new because He wants you to experience Him in a new way. He wants to take you into a new dimension of Himself.
May we all fall more in love.
I wasn't expecting that question, but I was delightfully surprised that she asked. I smiled and began to think as I looked out the window of the backseat.
"Well, it is hard to pinpoint the exact date. I guess you could say the first time I really loved Him was when I gave my heart to Him when I was eleven years old. But that was really just the beginning."
I paused for a moment as my mind went through all the spiritual milemarkers of my life.
"Then there was junior high when I began to read my Bible every day and develop a faith of my own. But it wasn't until high school when I had an eating disorder that I really discovered an intimate person relationship with Him. No, that's really when I fell in love. But actually, now that I think about it, I just thought I was in love. It was actually last semester when I really really fell in love with Him because I didn't have a boyfriend and I learned to depend on Him to meet all those needs and desires. Then again, just last week I had a growing experience with God. It was then that I realized I was even more in love with Him..."
My friend just smiled as I rambled and kept changing my mind.
"I guess I don't know how to answer your question. I could say I fell in love with Him nine years ago, or I could say I fell in love last week. It just keeps getting better and better. I feel like it can't get any better than this, but that's how I felt at every point in my life along the way."
One of my favorite things about the Lord is how He does that. He gets better and better and bigger and bigger as we grow closer and closer to Him. With every season of life, He does something new in us. He takes us to deeper levels and newer dimensions. Just when we think we have reached the mountain top, He leads us to a higher peak. Just when we think we have completed the picture of who He is, He stretches the canvas and starts filling in the blank place with brilliant colors.
This is what sustains me as I look ahead to my first semester in nursing school. I have never felt so intimidated by a task in front of me, but I know that this is an example of God starting something new. I know from the pattern of my life that whenever God starts something new, it will always result in beautiful, glorifying growth. As crazy as this new endevour (called nursing school) appears, I expect that I am going to learn how to trust in God in ways that I have never had to do before. I believe that I am going to fall even more in love.
If we dig down deep, I think we can all find something new happening in our lives. It may be obvious - a new semester, a new job, a new marriage, a new role, or a new house. Maybe it is not quite as obvious, like a new interest or a new friendship. A new pet, a new baby, or a new hobby are enjoyable while new struggles, new obstacles, and new heartaches are difficult. We all think new thoughts and feel new emotions. Even if life seems to be the same as always, could our realization and discontentment with stagnancy be something new?
Whenever God places something new in our lives, He is planting a seed. New sunshine, new stormy rains, and new seasons bring forth new growth. God wants to be something for you now - at this exact point in your life - that He couldn't be at any other time in your life. He is doing something new because He wants you to experience Him in a new way. He wants to take you into a new dimension of Himself.
May we all fall more in love.
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