This is your life, are you who you want to be?

I must confess.

I have not been thankful.
I have not delighted myself in who the Lord made me to be, and what he has done so gracefully.

But he is still good and worthy.

Lets start out.

I have so easily forgotten what precious eternal life the Lord has given me today.

Do you rest?

Do you stop and literally smell the roses in your life?

Who were you made to be?

Not so long ago, I was DEAD in my sins.
I mean that.

I was walking around in depression, and darkness.
My life was fairly hopeless.
I was stuck in Romans 7: I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. (verse 15)

I had no clue why I couldn't do the things I really wanted to.
I felt like I owed everyone something.
I felt like I was trapped.
Trapped by my stuff.
Trapped in my relationships.

Enslaved.

But there is and was and will be a King who is So worthy.

He set me free.

From my stuff, from my relationships.

He set me free from my self-made fears.

And wow, were they ridiculous!!

Redonk.

I praise the Lord for pursuing my heart to give me a GIFT of eternal life.

Yes, thats right.

A gift.

THere is nothing I did or can do to earn this or be worthy of.

It is a free, irrevocable gift.

And what a sweet gift it is.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Eternal life starts TODAY.

Eternity is FOREVER.

That means that at this very second I am free to live for the Lord.

I am free to delight.

I am free to serve.

With that being said, I want to tell you a little bit about what my eternal and abundant life looks like now.

It is definitely in stark contrast to what it was only a year-and-a-half ago.

At least, I hope.

Today, at this moment, at this very second I have life.

I have been jarringly reminded this year that our lives are SO short.

Sadly, it took losing a friend, Ryan Rogers, to get this.

The Lord is SOOO Sovereign. I cannot repeat this enough.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Our days are numbered.

He can do with them what he pleases.

I have also seen this so evidently in an old friend's life as well.

Aaron, who not so recently was rolling around in the muck of sin with me.
It has been so beautiful to watch you fall in love with the Lord.

And then, because he is SO jealous for our hearts, the Lord SOVEREIGNLY and lovingly
revealed to Aaron that he has cancer (probably for 2 years) now.
How perfect is his timing in Saving Aaron, and giving him the amazing, sweet life, so that when he did find the cancer he could praise the Lord and walk around with such sweet life, here and now.

And thats right, I said life.

Life or death has nothing to do with the body.

It has everything to do with our hearts.

I love that Aaron has a weak body with cancer, but has more life than he has EVER had.

Mmmm.

Ok, so my life right now.

Here is your update.

I am living in College Station and working.

Ok thats boring.

I never plan out my days.

I wake up and spend time with the Lord at Starbucks, or go swing in the park.

Wait on the Lord, and Keep his way, and he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn.

I have just graduated from college.

I have always wanted to go to Europe.

I am going to Europe for a month in about2 weeks.

I LOVEEE to go outside. I get to take walks to the park almost every day.
And swing.

And what happens? I get to hang out with cool little kids, and appreciate the cool air, the beautiful greenery.

Rest.

Just sit still on the swings, walk through the Hydrangeas, and be silent.

That is life.

One more example.

ANd really this is my favorite.

RARELY, VERY RARELY do I have days anymore where I want to shove my foot into my mouth.

Oh, they still come.

But praise, the Lord, he is moving me on to Romans 8: The mind of sinful man[e] is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

But praise the Lord that he is renewing me.

I am so thankful that he is transforming into his image, so that I don't have to be stuck in those old patterns of opening my mouth and wanting to run and hurl.

That used to happen a lot.

Life starts TODAY folks.

As the Lord allows, I pray that my life will be even further testament that there is nothing to wait for.

DO not wait another second to start your life.

Do not wait until you retire.

Do not wait until it is too late.

Live your life today.