Be Holy for I am Holy

Earliest this week, my boss messaged me while we were working. Conversation went like this:

Boss:  Hi.
me:  HI

Boss:  The Lord did place on my heart this morning to ask you to do a short devotional and open in prayer at our Thursday morning meeting...What do you say??
me:  Sure. Any particular devotional topic? 
Boss:  I think the Lord has already given it to you.
me:  Yeah? Okay, I will seek the Lord for it then. 
(We sit just a couple of feet from each other. He bursted out laughing because of my comment and said... "Was I wrong?" 
me:  I do feel like God has been reminding me of something the past two days but I didn't think that pertained to work. But maybe it does, not sure, that's why I will seek the Lord for it. 

All week long, I was asking God what he wanted me to share with the team about. I mean, I felt like God has been reminding me that there's a light at the tunnel through the David Jeremiah concert (to blog more about) and the conversation with my friend from DR. I was reading the Bible this week and nothing really stood out for me and I kept wondering if that personal thing God had for me was for the team too.

Then, this morning, I thought came to me. Leviticus 11:44. During my quiet time last Saturday morning, this was the verse that stood out to me. This was what came to mind and I couldn't believe I didn't think about this earlier! This was the verse I was looking for!

So here was the devo before the team meeting:

“I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” - Leviticus 11:44

Throughout the book of Leviticus, God establishes all these rules for the Israelites and in Chapter 11, God gives the Israelites specific regulations concerning animals, birds and every living thing that moves about in the water and on the ground. He specifically distinguishes between the unclean and the clean, the animals that should be eaten and should not be eaten. Towards the end of the chapter, God says, “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” Then he reminds the Israelites once again what makes them unclean and says to them, “I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore, be holy, because I am holy.” 

Holy means being set apart for God, that means being set apart in everything we do -- whether we are at work, school, home, church, whatever it is. As I was reading this, that particular verse stood out to me because sometimes, it’s so easy to lose sight of God and the plans that he has for us. When things start becoming stressful, frustrating and anxiety provoking, we start to complain, we start to conform to the patterns of the world and the focus becomes about me, me, me and it no longer becomes about God. I don’t know if that’s true for you, but that’s how it always is for me. The past two weeks, God has been putting me in my place, he continually reminds me that it’s not about me; it’s about Him. He is the Lord my God and I need to be holy because God is holy.  

God works funny because not only does he reveal that to me in His word but the past two weeks, he put certain things in my place to show me that it’s all about Him. I had a friend I went to college with who was an international student from Dominican Republic. Through years and years of God disciplining her and stripping her from her own desires and passions to follow his will, she felt the tugging to go to Russia to live there and share the gospel by working in orphanages. She finally obeyed, bought a one way ticket to Russia, packed her bags, and moved their last week. For her life, God was telling her, “I am the Lord your God, consecrate yourself, and be holy as I am holy.” 

A couple of days later, I went to the David Jeremiah event and the whole focus of the event was about the Bible, and how God speaks to us through his Word and reading his Word changes us. Again, God was reminding me to be holy, he is the one who brought me out of the wilderness to where I am now in my life, it was Him who changed me, and therefore I must be holy because he is holy. So even in my seasons of discouragements, God continuously reminds me that there is a light at the tunnel and be set apart because he is set apart.

Earliest this week, the boss said that God placed in his heart for me to do a short devotional and open in prayer. This is something that he has placed in my heart recently and hopefully this verse was able to speak to you personally as it did for me.

It's a good feeling to know that even in my dark times, God still works through me. In that, I'm blessed.

After the meeting, the boss said: "You know, sometimes, I question myself if God is really putting on my heart a specific something or not, but what you just shared confirmed it."

Then, my coworker said: "Just wanted to say, You did an excellent Job with the devotion today.  That was all Holy Spirit girl!! Preach it!!  I felt the power!! I was ready to sing! worship"

I'm so undeserving of this. All I do is complain complain complain when things are not going right, but God is still faithful. Thanks God for encouraging me when I most need it.

A Little Boost

Sometimes, it's so easy to lose sight of God and the plans he has for us. I know that happens to me all the time. It's so easy for me to go back into the slumps where everything becomes stressful, frustrating, anxiety provoking. It doesn't feel good, actually it feels horrible. But, there are other times, when I hear stories from friends that I haven't seen in a long time, and when I hear them, God puts me back in my place. He continuously reminds me that it's not about me, it's about Him. I just have to trust him in the process. This friend never encourages me by trying to teach me a lesson or whatever, she just shares stories about her own personal life and the way that God pulls through for her each and every single time. That pulling through never has to do with her own personal passions, she had to forsake all of that long ago, but it's whatever God willed for her to do, that's what she does. She had no other choice but to depend on God these past couple of years in her life and to see her trust in God and pull through every step of the way has been so encouraging. There was not one moment in time it was easy for her, but she just gave it up and gave it to God. Tonight, a lot of what she shared reminded me of the blessings that God had in store for me this past year. For the both of us, we would've never thought that God would have brought us where we are 3 years after college. Who would've thought I was going to be married and who would've thought her next chapter in life was going to be in Russia? Recently, it's just been hard for me, I'm not sure why but I feel dry. It's not anything particularly wrong that is going on, but I just don't feel anything. But tonight, I'm reminded about God's grace and His mercy over our lives. What's most amazing is not the end result of things, but the miracles and process that happens along the way, the struggles and hardships that led to the end results. I'm so thankful to God for people like these. Sometimes, I just need a little boost and today, I got that little boost to move forward and help me see the light at the end of the tunnel. More to post later about a recap of this year.

Procrastination

This semester, its procrastination at its worst. I've been in no mood to get started on any of my essays and it's causing me to be stressed and all. No bueno. Three days before Hawaii, I gotta finish everything now. Gah. 

Stressed

There are always those seasons where stress takes over and I'm anxious all the time. I actually hate the feeling. It feels like a knot in my stomach, sometimes even in my head or in my heart and it's very annoying. These are one of those seasons where it's causing me to lose focus on the things I need to do, I'm extremely unproductive by worrying so much, and I'm just sensitive to everything. I can't afford to let my feelings get in the way. I have an assignment due every week but I just want to go on vacation and get away from everything. It's really so useless to be overworked.

Fall 2013

School started and I'm not sure how much I look forward to this coming semester. I feel like there is just TOO much going on. Of course, I'm grateful to be in the place where I am right now. God literally blessed me with every single thing I had asked for. Now I just need to learn how to balance all of it without getting burnt out. My schedule starts at 9AM everyday and ends either 7, 8, or 9PM. Sometimes I wonder what I've done to myself. I'm going to have to be dealing with this for two years. At the same time, I'm grateful to have such opportunities. One thing I know for sure is that I'm going to have to make a lot of sacrifices. I also want to have enough time for myself to have some rest.

The past month has been difficult. It was my first time experience registration season at the job and wow, we really don't get a chance to breathe because everyone just happens to be last minute. Registration week affected me physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Everything. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath and by the end of the day, I was just so exhausted which caused me to feel unproductive in every aspect of my life. I thank God for such a great husband to make my life easier in so many ways. Without him, I'd probably collapse. I'm not sure if it's normal for a job to overwork people in this way, but it's definitely a learning experiencing. I've learned my mistakes from this year and am going to figure out a way to become more efficient by next year.

Tomorrow's my first day of actually sitting in the counselor position. All this time, I've been learning all this book knowledge about counseling, and now I actually get to put it into practice. There's so many emotions going on because it's my first time. I have a bunch of clients lined up already, more than I had expected for the first couple of weeks of school. And God willing, if this goes well, I won't need many more clients to fill up my time slots.

This is not going to be an easy semester. God, please help me as I strive to be faithful and excellent in all the things you are calling me to do. I already feel the stress, I already feel the burden, but may I find peace in you as I do all of this.