Taste and See

hi, hi, hiiiiii.

The Lord is teaching me a lot.  A whole dang lot.  I'm even totally sure where to start.
I feel like the last week has been a tornado of things; good things, nonetheless, but a lot of things.  I'm thankful to be under the continual watch of Jesus.  Not that I ever doubted His protection, grace, and mercy, but to be honest, sometimes He feels real far away.

And it's really easy to forget that Jesus has sweet things for us.  It took me declaring that over myself for months for me to actually believe it.  But I'm a living testament to the fact that declarations work.  I believe that if you chant your mantra to yourself enough, you begin to really believe those things.

The Lord is good and the Lord has good things for me.  In that, I refuse to believe that the not-so-good things are the best that Jesus can do; I refuse to believe that the people in my life that are clearly not aligned with Jesus' will for me are the best that Jesus has for me, that He could do no better.

With that said, it took weeks for me to believe that.  And even when I said I believed it, I didn't.  And I only know that because it wasn't until I truly believed in the grace, mercy, and sweetness of the Lord that He began to give me the sweet things that I desired.

I'm not sure that I'm making much sense, but I'm trying.  I guess I'm saying that when I really believed in Jesus' ability to bless me, He started blessing me.  

I've slept a lot less and prayed a lot more in the last week or two.  I'm thankful that I don't know where things are headed and I'm thrilled to watch Jesus' plan unfold.

With all of that said, I encourage anyone reading this to not settle for anything less than what you deserve.  Coming from the formerly reigning Queen of Settle for much too long, I urge and really demand you to wait for the Lord.  Because He does have good things.  And He does know what we need.  And He definitely wishes to bless us.  And I know that it's easy to see good things that the Lord is doing and count them as being for everyone else and not ourselves, but I'm really happy about the fact that that's not the way Jesus works.  It's not about earning blessings, but about trust and faith in His ability to provide blessings to you.  It's not worth it to believe or put faith in something that was never yours to believe or put faith in.  You can't change a heart and it was never your duty to try to.  Hallelujah and amen for that.

Guarding my heart, still onward we go.  One step at a time is a real good philosophy.  Psalm 119:105 says that Jesus' word is a lamp unto my feet.  Not a spotlight, not a blazing fire, but a lamp.  Because of that, I trust and believe that as I trust in the Lord, He will reveal His plan.  It's not something that can be rushed or measured and I'm really dang thankful for that.  One foot in front of the other, onward we go, receiving the blessings and resting in that abounding grace.

"It should be something altogether more organic and intuitive.  A spiritual courtship wherein two parties determine if God has ordained their paths to intersect." 

This is a lot of churchy language, but I'm just really happy and blessed and thankful.  Here's to fabulous.

Thank you, God, that you're good.  Thank you for having nothing but goodness for us.  Thank you for blessings that blow away any expectations we could ever have.  Thank you for your sense of humor and the grace that comes with it.  Thank you for giving us the desires of our hearts.  Thank you for continually teaching us and guiding us.  Even if you stop here, you've done enough and I'm thankful.  Thank you that your sweetness never, ever gets old.

"O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed are they that hopeth in Him." -Psalm 34:8

"thank you Lord for letting my best friend see that there are male specimens out there that cherish who she is and what she says *hand clap emoji*".  Yes and amen, Lindsey, couldn't have said it better myself.