Give It All

I recently interned at a gym and twice a week I did the yoga classes. It was my first time to ever do yoga moves (I ignored the eastern jumble, no worries) and the instructor had to help me the first few times. She told me, "The body always looks for the easiest way to accomplish what you're trying to do, but you won't reap the benefits if you're not pushing your body to it's limits." It was painful doing it the correct way. Yoga requires total concentration and awareness of your body. After 8 weeks of doing it the correct way every time though, the pain decreased and my body was more flexible. Because I stuck with doing it the right way, I reaped benefits that made me happy and also increased my overall well being.

Hillsong United sings a song called "Go". The opening verse of the song states "Were giving it all away, away. Giving it all to go Your way." So how does this connect with the yoga class I just talked about? Well- In yoga, I had to push out of my comfort zone. The song "Go" gives the perfect example of giving everything to God. A situation that may seem easy when just thinking about, but actually when it practice, it's difficult, and just like yoga, it takes pushing of yourself.

God wants us to completely place everything in His hands. He wants our burdens, He wants our hurt. God wants our happiness, our joy, He wants everything.

Giving Him everything though is hard. Just like when first starting yoga, or really any new thing, most are going to look for the easiest way to do something. In the case of giving everything up to God, it's as simple as fooling yourself. It is so easy to just say, "I'm giving Him everything, I know I am." For the first few days, maybe even just within hours of saying, "Okay, I'm releasing this situation", it can really seem like you have given it all to Him. But of course, the devil does not want us at all to give everything to the Lord, because then what does he have to work with to use to destroy our lives?

For example, the lie the devil likes to use on me is that something is wrong with me, I'm inadequate, and that I'm weird. I'll go through moments where I will honestly say to God, "Okay Lord take this away! I'm giving this to You! Help me to not believe this!" I feel great right after I say that, but as time goes on, the devil starts chipping away at my release to God. Because I am not putting the work in to keep everything in God's hands, the devil is able to do that. I am simply taking the easy way out. Listening to and believing that lie that says I'm inadequate is much easier than taking a stand and saying "No. This is not true, I am a child of God and no one is broken to the Lord." So just like the yoga, I need to begin to push myself, it may be painful at times, but in order for me to be able to give everything, and I mean everything up to the Lord, I need to endure that pain and difficulty. In the end, taking the difficult road will reap its benefits.

The Lord has really been speaking to my heart about this lately because, like I said earlier, He wants everything. He gave me this great image for when I'm struggling to really just give it all. He told me to picture, wherever I am, myself throwing my hands in the air and saying to Him "Take it all God! I put all that I am into Your hands."

So for anyone reading this, I really challenge you to make a conscious effort to give everything to the Lord. Just like in yoga where awareness of the body is required, always be aware of spiritual warfare and what is going on in your life. Are you trying to deal with it yourself, or are you releasing it all to God?

ICantThinkofATitle

I don't know how to start this off, so I'm just going to get straight to the point.

I am tired of the competition for who's life is the hardest.

I am tired of the world being a huge comparing palace.

In no way has my life been traditionally hard. My parents are still together, my family loves me, my parents are able to pay for my college, etc.

But, just because I have those things doesn't mean my life is perfectly together.

I have struggled with depression since the summer before 9th grade. Sometimes, I'm not sure what causes it. I used to just wake up some mornings and not want to continue on. I physically couldn't do anything. Now, the things I used to do in no way helped out my situation, but still, I was very depressed.

The thing is, I didn't tell anyone that I was depressed. No one knew just how much I was hurting. I could go to school, church, wherever and no one would have a clue how much sadness and hurt I was carrying on my shoulders.

I'm not saying all this to try and gain "Oh, I'm so sorry's", I'm saying this because -- Everyone has a story, and most likely everyone is going through something.

Life in America has become such a competition in everything, that now society isn't just competing for who has the most money, who's the prettiest, nicest house, etc, its gotten to the point that the world we live in is competing for the worst sob story.

So instead of being selfish and continuelly thinking how much worse life is than someone elses, how about taking a moment to look around and think about what that person who just walked by could be going through.

Taking the time to sit down and care about another person, and not compare your life to their's is actually quite healing. Maybe the way they deal with their problems could be a great way for you to deal with yours, or vice versa.

In God's eyes, every human is equal. He cares about every single problem each of us face. So, no sadness is too small for Him. No feelings of depression, anger, guilt or whatever someone is going through is too little, or too grand for Him. If all of these things are able to be taken to Him and viewed equally, than us Christians here on earth must look at everyones problems as equal too.

So in conclusion, take time to listen to other people, and be aware that your neighbor could be going through hard times! Also, never forget that your story is just as valueble as the next person and that you should never have any guilt about sharing your life. If you are taking the time to have kindness toward others, you'll find others who will gladly give kindness and compassion back to you.