Meditation

(This is the other part of "How I Became A Christian")

When I was younger, I picked up a Bible and started to read it. No sooner later was I saved.

The challenges that came after I was saved included my lack of knowledge of what the Christian life looked like and basic knowledge of the word. I started reading the Bible during a difficult part in my life which in turn made me driven to study it even more. Everyday, any part of the day. I wanted to learn how to live outside my old life.

So once I accepted Christ as my Savior, I knew that I needed to get into the word. In fact, it came easily for me because I craved it! I can remember putting the television on for background noise as I flipped through the pages of the Bible. I was looking up verses on everything. From certain sins to fruits of the Spirit. I was gun-ho about knowing who God was and how I should be living as a saved person. I was a child who wanted to know her father. And it was probably one of the most thrilling parts of my life. It was like finding a gold ring on a beach. Or finding a pearl in the sea. The Bible was new to me, and every verse that spoke to me was better than ice cream on a hot summer's day. In fact, I was losing weight during the time I was saved because I was caught up in writing verses down, and less on my appetite!

Below, you'll some of the pages of references that I took down as I flipped through the glossary of one of the Bibles I looked through. I don't remember if I read all the references, but I do remember looking at some of the topics and finding verses that I wanted to memorize so that I could live them out.

 

After a while, I saw a transformation in me. I could see that I was reaping what I was sowing, which was God's word. When I look back at that time in my life, I think about how encouraging it is to see that at one point in my life God was my all. Every time I recognize he is not my all now, I look back to the place I once was. I was miserable, but it's not just because I was miserable that I want to continue living for Christ. It was because I knew he saved me. He loved me first. And I was completely and utterly in love with him. My fifteen year old self encourages me, now 23, because I see what I am capable of when I surrender to God. In the years that I have been saved, I have noticed that God uses my testimony to encourage others and to keep us passionate about the great things he has planned for those who have been called according to his good and perfect plan.

Today, I want to leave you with a verse that I found encouraging in one of my journals.Psalm 19:14:

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer."

How often are you meditating on the truth of God's word? Are you letting it mold you and shape you into his likeness? Or are you easily distracted sometimes, like I am? I think this happens when we do not make it a habit of getting into God's word and letting it grow in our lives. We reap what we sow, according to Galatians 6:9. So we ought focus on things that we want to reap one day. Not necessarily talking about goals in life like making money here, but what I am talking about is drawing nearer to God and letting him be Lord of our lives.

Challenge: Go on a hunt for verses that you need right now in your life. Maybe they deal with the strength you need in Christ or maybe the hard hitting truth of a sin in your life. You choose. Write them down on notecards, and every chance you get, read them to memorize them. Soon enough, you'll begin to reap what you sow by meditating on the truth of God's word.