Giving Up.

Giving up, giving in, and giving out…

This week there has been a reoccurring theme of women feeling worn out, and not feeling connected to God. The women in my life are-- by the world’s standards, successful. They lead different ministries, they work long hours to make sure they get the job done, and they maintain healthy relationships with their friends and family—some of them even going to school at the same time. However, a lot of times they forget to simply have an encounter with God. This leads to a trend of “fake it ‘til you make it.” All of a sudden, we have girls with huge smiles plastered on their faces, with tired eyes, trying to keep up the image of the perfect Christian girl. It’s becoming an epidemic, and it is all due to ONE reason: people stop living abundant lives when they stop having encounters with God.

All of this begs the question. How do we live an abundant life?

The first thing you have to do is give up. Yes, you read that correctly. Give up. Give up the crazy notion that you can do it all on your own. NO ONE can do it all on their own. People don't give up because they don't see God. Okay so you receive eternal life, how do you receive abundant life? Well, the answer to that is you have to see God; you have to have an encounter with God. Not only do you get a chance to have an encounter with God every week (through church) but you can encounter God everyday through quiet times with Him.

We need to see God, spend time with Him. You may not get a sermon you can preach, but you will get one you can live.

Now that we have given up (whew don’t you feel better already?); it’s time to give in. Giving in starts with conviction, leads to confession, and it ends with cleansing.

How do you give in? You have to deny yourself. "Die to yourself" one might say. Now that isn’t a one-time quick fix. You have to deny your selfish desires every single day. You must put God first. Even when it is the season premiere of The Office and all you want to do is zone out. If you know that you wouldn’t be able to spend time with God after that, turn off that television, and make the time.

When you give in to God He takes our inequity away.

The last step is to give out. It’s a natural result to an encounter with God. It’s not about who's going, but it’s who is sending. Just read about Moses, and you can see for a lot of that story that God was trying to teach Moses that same exact thing. Moses begged God to let him pass on the whole “public speaking bit,” he was sure God just had a little too much faith in him. Well, we all know how that one ended. Who are we to think we know better than God? If God calls you out to serve, (and He will) you must stick your neck out and do it.

Now I have some problems following this, trust me, I know it can be difficult. I have promised myself that I would make the time over and over again. Before I know it, I am loaded down, stressed out, and unable to make it through the day without wanting to run away. So why do I look up and wonder why I am feeling like that? The answer to that is because I have stopped trying my hardest to encounter God. Yes, I have made sure I am going to church, but what’s going on with my quiet times? What happened to studying my Bible, and just being still with Him? It can be so easy to get caught up in being a student, being a student worker for the BSM, being on leadership for Thread Women’s Ministry, etc. Yet, if I am not being faithful in the FIRST role that I have been given (i.e. a Christian) than the other roles I have taken on are meaningless. We must first be faithful in that role before taking on any other roles. So that will mean saying no to things you really want to do sometimes.

I'm more determined than ever to pursue my God...when you seek Him, He will find you.

-Caiti Ramey