Can you introduce yourself to us?
Fully blessed is how I see my life. Fully blessed because I've been given fullness of life in the One who is life, in the One who fully knows me and fully loves me, in the One who offers fullness of joy and full blessings of grace upon grace to me - Jesus Christ. Because of this gift I've been given in the midst of struggles in life, my heart beats to share this with others, to spread His hope and beauty with hearts that are hurting. He has used my story - a story of taking my brokenness and turning it into something beautiful - to give me hope, and this is now what I aspire to be - a spreader of hope with hearts that are hurting and broken.
How did you meet Jesus?
Growing up in a Christian home allowed me the chance to meet Jesus at the young age of three. I continued to grow in my knowledge and love for Jesus and deepened in my relationship with Him. It wasn't until I was in a very low and broken time of life, however, that I saw how truly beautiful and real Jesus is. And when I began to see Him for who He truly is, I began to see myself for who I really am, loved, forgiven, free. At age 19, at a Summer camp in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, I met Beauty Himself in the most profoundly life-changing way. Since that moment, my life has never been the same.
How has He become your life?
Wow! Where to start?!? He is in the joys and the tears in life. Each experience, each moment really, has brought me more of Him...more of LIFE Himself.
"All
streams run to the sea."
-Eccl. 1:7 In other words, all gifts in life point to the Giver. Jesus
has given beautiful gifts, gifts in life that point us to Him, that allow us to
experience and live that FULLNESS of life, because Life Himself has become our
life. For me this journey of truly experiencing Him to be my all, my full
joy, my love, my LIFE, has began with simply opening my eyes. He is who
He is regardless if I acknowledge this or not, but it's not until I open my
eyes that I can truly know and experience this myself.
"Jesus
gave us eyes, eyes to see the beauty around us." These words popped out at me as I was reading stories
to a little boy one sunny afternoon. I have eyes, eyes to see the beauty
around me, all of which points to Beauty Himself, the source of all life, my life!
But, how often am I awake, looking, seeing, letting His love rush in? How
often am I too rushed and not looking, missing little joys which echo Him that are
all around me?
When people speak of Jesus being
their life, we get this sense that they are satisfied, deeply and fully
satisfied because they have found that fullness of life! I realized that
I cannot make up satisfaction and contentment. I cannot just decide I'm content and Jesus is
my life. I must open my eyes and let His love rush in so I can be truly
filled - for I can only be satisfied if I'm filled. And it wasn't until I
decided to fight every single day to live this fullness of life in the One who
is life, that He has truly become my life! It's been a fight, to receive
grace, to simply look and SEE, to live wide eyed and awake to the gifts...the
GIVER.
My hearts cry is with the man who
Jesus asked, "What do you want me to
do for you?" to which the man answered, "Open my eyes so I can see." Because when we can
see the gifts, we see the GIVER. This is when that fullness of joy rushes
in, the joy that cannot be taken away or added to, because it is so full, it is
that full life, the life that cries, JESUS is my LIFE, because we've seen Him
more in life, by simply looking, seeing and thanking.
This, this is what has changed my
life. Opening my eyes, by thanking the Giver of Life for the gifts in my
life. In this He has opened my eyes to the fact that He is the source of
all life, the giver of all life, and the sustainer of all life. The maker
of the stars, the glory in a sunrise, the comfort in my pain, the peace in the
storm, the joy in a smile... the gifts that point to the Giver. And in seeing
Him, Life Himself, I have seen He truly is everything, He truly is MY LIFE.
What are ways that help you embrace Jesus
as your life more and more?
Simply embracing Jesus, opening my eyes to Him in life, all of it from His salvation of my soul, to soft breezes blowing the pages of my journal, to His comfort in painful nights, to sun beaming through the windows, to the sea crashing into the shores, He is LIFE... the Giver and Sustainer of life, and this has caused me to realize He is my life.
Someone has shared the challenge to
write down the gifts in life, and this has been a very practical way for me to
live this out.
Is there any specific encouragement you would like to share with our readers?
We must receive what God offers as grace...it
is what we were created for... To trust Him for salvation, to enjoy Him,
to worship Him, to experience Him, to experience fullness of life in the One
who is Life! Only then can He become our life, when we see life is
nothing without the source of all life.
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