So I'm sitting at work and it's a slow day. So I'm going to post again :) I was reading the blog of
HL Hussman , an associate pastor at the campus ministry I'm in and he wrote something really interesting.
He was talking about how he had struggled with his spiritual life going up and down, with tons of highs and lows. It reminded me of a heart rate monitor :) But I realize I've been in the same situation semi-regularly in my life, and here's what he said he was told.
"
He described the ride of faith as always being one of ups and
downs but the goal is to make the ups more and more common and make
them peak at higher and higher points while making the downs less and
less common and less and less deep. Eventually,
when pursuing this kind of walk with God you find that the deepest
drops you experience will be higher than the highest peaks you reached
before."
I think that's really encouraging. First, he's a guy I respect and the fact that he still has the ups and downs is encouraging to me. Second, because I feel like this advice is a lot better than the advice I was giving myself, which was to
be perfect all the time. With my advice, I feel condemned every time I mess up like I'm less spiritual than other people. With the other, I realize the normalcy of this and just continue to work towards raising the highs and lows. A lot more encouraging and a lot less condemning.
Comments (2)
The Seven-Up Plan you mentioned is really helpful! Actually all you said was really helpful!
I'm also having a problem with thinking that being a great Christian means being perfect all the time. God knows that we all have our faults and we fall extremely short of His glory. People either look for loop-holes or expect too much of themselves. But it doesn't mean that we shouldn't keep trying to be the best that God made us to be!
And about the entry below this...I CONSTANTLY have problems with God telling me to do or NOT to do something and going against it. He tells me to listen, but do I? Rarely.
I need to get back into going to church, for one, and He's not gonna stop "bugging me" till I do it! lol
God bless!
Ellen
@died4me_live4him - yep, thats the Holy Spirit for you. :)