Holding Out

Recently, I realized that the sin that cost Adam and Eve their relationship with God, is the same sin that I struggle with on a daily basis. Prior to the fall, Adam and Eve only knew one thing: God. They went through God to get knowledge of anything else.

When, Satan tempted Eve he said, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He crafted his words in such a way that made Eve think in her mind that God was in someway holding out on her. She let that thought creep into her mind and she did not trust God. She was tempted and the scripture says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”

This is the point where I believe, Eve after thinking that God was holding out on her took matters into her own hands and from there the union between God and man would always be severed. God was no longer man’s only source of knowledge. Man then began to consider himself to be his own source of knowledge. From then on, man no longer had a need for God’s knowledge in any form and would always reject God.

I have a Jesus Storybook Bible, (go figure I’m a preschool teacher) Its seriously like the best thing ever! I love to read it. (Yes, even when I’m not with kids) In the story of the Fall of man, the serpent whispers to Eve, “Does God really love you? If he does, why won’t he let you eat of the fruit?” 

Much like Eve, there are times in my life when I let those kinds of lies creep in. I may not actually ask, “Does God really love me? I wonder if God is holding out on me.” But, because of my actions, the way I worry, how I try to control my own future, and my thought process I have basically said “God, you’re holding out on me, so I am just going to take this into my own hands and figure it out. Thanks.”

 J

When I heard this story in the Jesus Storybook Bible, it hit me like a ton of bricks! I knew that I had been saying that God was holding out on me. Also, that I was not satisfied with just him…I wanted something else. Its truly awful and disgusting.

The great thing is, God really does love me. He isn’t holding out on me. In fact, for the rest of the Bible you see a story of how he chased after his creation/his love and how he rescued me/us/everyone from the awful and disgusting pit that we’ve all gotten ourselves into.  

**This first part of this post is my paraphrase of a much more in depth Bible Study that can be found here: Promised Redemption **

Sweet Community

This summer I worked at Pine Cove. (I know most of you are thinking, “Yeah we know, you talk about it all the time!” Sorry, I’m not sorry) The reason I mentioned it, is because while I was there I experienced true community like I’ve never experienced before!

When you spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 months of your life with the same 60 people, you tend to get really close to them. We ate together, lived together, served together, prayed together, cried together, and loved together. Even when we had time off on the weekends, we spent most of it with each other.

There is something so unique about the bond that I share with all of them. We were a family. I had so much accountability when I was surrounded by them, was so encouraged in their presence, and was loved like I’ve never been before.

When camp was over, I knew it would be very hard to leave that…and it was! I didn’t fully prepare myself for how sad I would be when I wasn’t with them anymore. I came home and for the first 3 weeks I was here, I really struggled. I knew it was possible to find community here at home. But, a big part of me didn’t even want to try because I just loved what I had at camp so much. I prayed about it and hoped that eventually I would find this kind of community at home.

Its so important to have something like that in your life. Jesus had it when he walked this earth. He spent a good majority of his time with the 12 disciples. They traveled together, shared meals together, stayed together, and prayed together.

The Lord was faithful in providing a great community for me here. I had to put myself out there a little bit in order to find it. But, he came through and I am so thankful and blessed! My life group has been an incredible source of encouragement and accountability for me within the last month. (they probably don't even realize it) We are all growing together and even though I still feel like we are in the beginning stages of our relationships. I know that the Lord is doing some great things in each of our lives because of the community that we’ve decided to have with each other.

My prayer for us is that, we would continue to grow and have fun together and most importantly, that we would show genuine love to each other and we would be intentional with each other! 

"Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now." -Philippians 1:3-5