Treasure Found!

I made a wonderful and exciting discovery today. A while back I read a book titled, "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. I absolutely loved it, and have a great deal of respect for him, as he is such a gifted teacher and writer, and so full of wisdom.

Well , I have to admit, today I was doing some "blog lurking" (you know, when you read a friend's blog and then click on a friend of theirs you don't know, and then another unknown friend of a friend, and so on. Am I the only one who does this? Maybe! Should I not be admitting this? Probably!) Well, I stumbled accross Randy Alcorn's blog! Now I know this might not seem that exciting to some of you, but let me tell you, it's worth going and checking out. I went back and started at his very first post, which wasn't that long ago...June 2007. And I'm going to be reading a post each day. He is so down to earth and real, yet at the same time has such wisdom and a Godly perspective. Reading his posts are like sitting down at a table with some good coffee and listening and learning from a dear friend.


And speaking of a dear friend, tonight I was talking with a friend on the phone, and we were talking about the doubts and questions that we as Christians go through. Like, "why do I even call myself a christian? How am I really living my life for God? This is too hard, why try? What does it all mean?" And I told her how I have always longed for and needed a Godly influence speaking truth and wisdom into my life. Whether it's through a book, a friend who I respect, or taking the time to listen to a radio broadcast (my favorite is Chuck Swindoll), I NEED IT. We have to take the time to feed ourselves spiritually, otherwise we grow weak and fragile, "tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching" (Ephesians 4:14). I am not by any means minimizing the need to spend time studying the Bible. Everything we need is in God's Word, it is our daily bread, our sustenance, we could not be disciples (aka learners) of Jesus Christ without it. But I have found, as Proverbs says, "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another", I need Godly influences in my life.

I am speaking to myself more then anyone, but I also hope to encourage even just one person. If you are in a stagnant place, you're not moving forward, you're having doubts, or maybe have never pursued the knowledge of who God is, I encourage you, seek Him out. Whether it be through the Bible, a book, a friend, the radio, or even the simplicity of clicking on Randy Alcorn's Blog once a day and reading a post each day, you will be feeding your soul. You will be making a start, a step forward. And you will be glad you did.

Here is an excerpt from one of his posts that particularly spoke to me:

"In a fallen corrupted world, people keep searching and searching, like frustrated channel changers, never finding what satisfies (and often never turning off the TV to look elsewhere). Ultimate satisfaction can be only found in God, the gracious giver of all good things. We were made for Him and we will never be satisfied with less. Coming to grips with this is one of the great keys to Christian living. As long as we hold onto the illusion that we can find what we’re looking for somewhere else, we’ll never give ourselves fully to God. It’s easier not to. And yet, in the long run, the easy road we choose proves to be much harder than the hard road we turned away from.While we as Christians should know this above all others, how soon we forget. At the end of the day, if we haven’t found a reason for peace and contentment, is it because we were looking in the wrong places and to the wrong people? Christians can live, practically speaking, as if we were atheists.How many times in the last 24 hours have you consciously looked to God and said “Please, my Savior, help me find in You today all that my heart longs for?” I did it just now, because I wrote it. And I did it, essentially, earlier today twice, once because I wasn’t feeling joyful, and knew I needed to direct my heart to Him to find a reason for joy. The second time was when I was praying for people I love who are facing challenges. I’m facing a few myself. God can use those challenges to remind us we can’t find peace apart from Him."

I have placed a link to his blog over on the right side. I hope you go do some reading!On another note, has anyone else been LOVING the sunshine? The weather lately has been so beautiful, and the kids and I have really enjoyed getting outside and playing. I can't wait for spring! I need to get rid of the "snow theme" on my blog....winter is almost over!