A City Not Forsaken (Isaiah 62:12)

Hey everyone! I am really sorry for not writing lately; it's been over a month! Life has just been crazy. I'll try to get back into writing more often. For those of you that said you missed it, thank you! I wasn't even aware some of you were reading it :) To be honest, I started writing this blog because 1) I wanted to and fnally got around to it. 2) Because I felt led to start a blog. Now I realize that my writing was some of your weekly dose of Jesus outside of Sunday. So I apologize for dropping the ball ............ totally not living up to my purpose. But hey, I tend to do a pretty crappy job of living up to my purpose in general :) anyway ... BLOG POST. So I just recently came across this the other day. It's Isaiah 60:18-20 ...
"Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended."
Ah, I love that. It's really just a beautiful and true description. Yet, I'm not going to lie. This past month has been all over the place; a lot of highs and a lot of lows. While I'm not saying it's wrong to feel sad or happy, I also realize that life's circumstances are some of the last things that should effect me. I mean, 1 Cor 13:11 says I am to "rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." What more could I ask for?

Let me break this down: I have JESUS inside of me. He died because He loves me. He thinks it's the best thing that happened to Him! He loves me enough to rejoice in my joy and mourn with my sadness. He's there all the time and sometimes ... I ignore Him. I pretend like He's not even there. That's what I have to give back. There are days where I go my entire day without even a quick thank you to my Saviour. If your best friend is with you, do you completely ignore them? No. Does that make me a sinner? Yeah, I most definitely am for a lot of reasons. That's just one of them.
What I love about Jesus is His never ending love and grace for me. I am nothing without Him, though for some reason, I like to think I am worth something WITHOUT Him in the picture. But then, that day comes, where everything goes awry. I reach rock bottom and realize I truly am nothing and I need the One who is EVERYTHING. And what does He whisper while I lay in bed wishing to change things? "Daughter, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Thus, boast gladly in your weakness that My power may rest upon you. Be content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when you are weak, then you are strong" (2 Cor. 12:9-10). Why He chose to save me I'll never quite fathom.

He my "hero" and my King who stooped down to rescue me -- a little slave in the millions of faces. He spotted me in the midst of the crowd, looked at me straight in the eye and said, "I want you." He adopted me into His family and made me His own. He tells me everyday that He loves me with the beauty of His creation and little blessings in the day. He cleaned me and made me new. He even calls me His heir. What King does that? What person in their right mind would do that? Who is this God ... He even devotes His time and life to me. As Galatians 4:1-7 says, "I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as songs. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." My Jesus saved me from the "prince of the power of the air" and made me the princess of all that was and is good in this life (Eph. 2:2). In the richness of His mercy, grace, and love, He made me alive in Him and He placed me right next to Him (Eph. 2:1-10). Gah ... idk how to express my gratitude. No amount of feelings could really return all He has done for me. And you. And your ancestors and your children and your children's children. He loves so well.

So ... yeah, life's not perfect. I have to get over that just like everybody else on this planet. At least I know I'm just making a stop for gas before I get home, throw my arms around my Daddy's neck, and tell Him that I've missed him. Isaiah 64:8 sums up what I'm trying to say well I think:

"[N]o eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand."

Mold me into the person I'm meant to be. Help me forget my desires and make Your desires my desires. Keep my focus on You that everything else can fall into place, even if it's not in the place I want them to be. I love you and I can't wait to spend eternity in the heavenly realm where I am not forsaken, but loved. Who are we as Christians? "Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken" (Isaiah 62:12). Don't let me forget ...