What Really Matters....

Some pretty big and exciting things have happened in my life over the past few weeks and I am truly thankful for what God has done in my life and where he has lead me.  In just 6 months from tomorrow, I will be walking down the aisle to meet the man that I so deeply love at God's altar.  It is so incredibly humbling to think about how God has blessed me over the past 3 months with a man who will soon become a part of my very soul....why in the world would God choose to bless ME?  I am a woman of many imperfections and I sin everyday. I am NOTHING.  For the life of me, I don't understand why I deserve ANY blessing from the Lord.  But, then I am reminded of God's grace and how much he loves us and adores us.  His perfect grace is enough and it is the only explanation for blessing such an undeserving person like myself.  

These next six months will be full of much anticipation and excitement and there is a lot to look forward to.  As I was walking Beau yesterday, my thoughts became consumed with wedding plans and then I realized that this was my time to spend with the Lord and those thoughts were getting in the way of that special time.  I felt conviction (and saw, yet again, how ugly I am) and made a commitment to God that I would focus these next few months not on the "details" but on the cross and how God wants to prepare me for this amazing journey into marriage.  Before I left Todd on Monday, we prayed and both asked that God would keep our focus on Him alone.  Here is the email he sent me the next morning that was so encouraging and really challenged me:

Just thinking about all the things we now have to look forward to with our engagement, and many decisions to make befored the day we unite as one, reading this morning our devotional puts into perspective really what should be our main focus not just now but always.

"If we are obsessed by God, NOTHING else can get into our lives-not concerns, nor tribulation, nor worries. God will cause us to dwell in prosperity, keeping us at ease, even in the midst of tribulation, misunderstanding, and slander, if our life is hidden with Christ in God."

May we use these words to guide us everyday and our focus truly be on serving him and knowing him. Through him all things are possible. Let us love and worship him, and in that our love will grow even stronger as one in him. 

I am so thankful for God's hand and for what He is doing in my life.  But, I pray that he is my obsession alone, just as Todd/Oswald pointed out.  It's so easy to get caught up in such trival things....but at the end of the day it's about what God wants to do in our lives, what he wants to do through us and how he wants to use us and that's all that matters.