Saying Yes to God

I've been thinking lately about choices. There are so many. There's the day to day should I do homework or hang out with my friend, and there's the should I go down this path or that one knowing that it will lead to two totally different lives. Decisions are hard for me (don't ask me where to go for dinner) because I know that saying yes to something means saying no to something else. If I say yes to one plan, then I'm saying no to doing anything else during that time. Even though I stress out easily about this, I know a big chunk of it doesn't matter that much. One thing I have been praying for though is that I always say yes to God. That's ultimately what matters right? But I've found myself getting so busy that even though I don't feel like I'm directly telling God "no", I'm saying yes to so many things that aren't Him, that I have rarely gotten around to saying yes to Him. Out of all the choices in the world, I know I want to pick the ones that He's in, and I can only know that by saying yes to him on a day to day basis, choosing seek Him in my daily life. I know I'm busy, but I never want to be too busy for God. If anyone relates, I'm going to provide some verses to you for encouragement, and some simple challenges to help you say yes to God:

Mark 1:35

"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed."

I might have gotten up before the sun a few times to read the Word haha, but I do usually try to before I start my day. As I vaguely mentioned before, I noticed when I hadn't written in my journal in almost two weeks after a few months of doing it every day. Life happens, but God wants to be there for you in the middle of your "messy" life, and that's what I'm trying to work on in the mornings. However, this verse also points out about going somewhere alone and praying. Even if you're not a morning person, it is so beneficial to have one on one time with God. Church is amazing, but personally praying to God is when I find the most answers. Challenge 1: Spend time with God by yourself!

Psalm 119:105

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

The words feet and path clearly indicate that this person is going somewhere, and it says that God's word is that light! I think that this is cool, because it doesn't seem like a light that they necessarily follow, but instead one that they bring with them. After trying to make so many (maybe) important decisions in my life, I've realized that God's not always in one option and not the other. He desires to be wherever you go. And the best part is if you already do challenge one, it's pretty easy to have that light (Him) with you! You just take what you learned from your alone time with God and apply it to your day. Challenge 2: Bring God with you wherever you go!!

John 15:4-5

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

Abide means to remain stable or fixed on something, so I would say Jesus is a good thing to abide in. I think spending time with God and taking him with you (the first two challenges) is pretty much abiding in him, so this isn't a challenge, but instead it shows what God gives you when you do abide in him. The "fruit" he gives includes love, joy, peace, goodness, and so much more!

You will never regret saying yes to God, and I hope that this shows that it's so easy to say yes! It just takes intentionally going to Him, receiving what he has to say, then applying it to your life. Saying yes to God doesn't always mean traveling across the ocean to do mission work, but saying yes in your day to day life seeing what he wants for you! So even though I may save all my homework until last minute, that's something that I'm intentionally trying not to do with God. (Maybe then it will pour over to doing my homework super early...) How sad would it be if I knew about God my whole life but never chose to say yes or abide because I knew I could do that at the end of my life? There are so many benefits to saying yes now, and it's not too late to start!