The Difference

We have all been there: laying in bed thinking about the habits in our lives that we want so badly to

change: from talking to much, overeating, procrastinating, bad tempers, smoking to getting in debt from overspending. The list of habits that negatively effect our lives could fill pages. We lie awake feeling overwhelmed, depressed, alone and scared. What if I can't change? What if everyone has finally given up on me? What if people find out how bad I really am?

We have read scores of books, spent hours and hundred of dollars on counselors, talked our friends, spouses and sometimes complete strangers to death with our desire to change, just to end up here again.

What really scares us is that this time we were so sure our plan would work; but before we knew what was evening happening we were right back in the same situation, not even knowing how we got there.

Take a moment and read these words with me:

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures

He leads me beside the quiet waters

He restores my soul

STOP

He restores me soul.....WHAT?

Is that really true? and if it is, how does it happen??

In a world where we have been conditioned to want quick change; magazines promise us that we will lose 10 pounds in a week, and credit card offers come in the mail by the pound, God's answers may feel intangible and exhausting, however the opposite is true.

God's answer is to abide in Him (period) no tricks, no gimmicks, no apple cider vinegar; just abide in Him.

In Matthew 15:1-5 Jesus tells us "Abide in me and I in you and you will bear much good fruit.....apart from me, you can do nothing"

Do we believe Him? and if we do, what does it look like in our every day lives.

That is the topic I want to explore over the next few days.