Love God. Love People.

"From glory to glory, my God You are holy, let all of the voices proclaim. I'm wretched and broken, my God You have spoken, I'm clean by the blood of the Lamb..." -David's Plea

The blessings the Lord has poured over my life this past year are immeasurably more than I ever could have imagined. The joy, love, growth and understanding He has willingly drenched me with have ignited a passion I never knew was buried in the depths within me. A passion for Him and a passion for His people. And a passion to make His name great among all His people. To join in the voices and proclaim His glory.

Although, my passion is too often attacked by my very own flesh. I cannot escape the sin that is guaranteed by humanity. Yet He has spoken: I am clean by the blood of the Lamb.

I recognize, accept, and surrender my sins to the only One great enough to take them from me. By dwelling in my past (and present) sinful nature and numerous sins, I am not accepting what Jesus did when He was crucified and raised from the dead. And to think that I have the audacity to tell Him what He did wasn't good enough, powerful enough to free me from all of my mess-ups?

FALSE.

He is more than enough, great enough, and I can assure you He is more than powerful enough to cleanse me of my sins.

Well, now getting back to the rich blessings of this past year...

There are far too many to cover, but one in particular has been overwhelmingly evident in my life recently, and that is my church home here in Lubbock. Overflow Church.

Wow. The body of believers at Overflow has taught me, loved me, encouraged me, and has definitely helped grow me.

Through Overflow, I have gained the most wonderful friends family ever.

These friendships began a little over a year ago. They have seen good and bad times, joys, frustrations, laughter, tears, but through it all, they have truly made me a better person. I have grown immensely. I have been through so many different seasons with these people, yet we all seem to recognize that we are all a vital part of each others' lives and each others' walks with Christ. No matter where life takes us, we always remember, and have many times fallen back on each other when there seems to be no other place to fall back, because through it all, we have one thing in common: the pure love of Christ.

That's the only way I can put into words what drives these friendships: the pure love of Christ. That's what it all is. And to each one of my brothers and sisters, you know the role God has used you to play in my life, and thank you for loving me unconditionally with Christ's love. It's what has brought me to where I am today.

Love God. Love people. He'll take care of the rest.

Heart.

The heart is a strange thing. A strange, yet beautiful thing. A wonderful mystery, and the core to who we are; to what we are as relational beings.

How does the heart know? How does the heart have such a relentless grip on the entirety of who we are and how we live our lives? Because that's the way it is supposed to be. Because our hearts are our wellspring of life. The central reel that keeps everything spinning in the right way. That is, unless we allow our heart to counteract its pure intentions.

The heart is a pure, wonderfully poised element of who we are. However, there is one thing that can interrupt the heart's performance and purpose. And that is the mind.

How can the mind interfere with such a wonderfully passionate entity we each have? We allow our mind to overpower our heart. To make decisions that aren't ours to make. To deliberate between different things that may not require deliberation. The mind itself is brilliant, enticing, and dangerous.

In order to compensate our longings of the flesh, we must regain control over our very own minds. We must renew our minds. We must discipline and cultivate our minds.

Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

The renewing of our MIND. Renewal. Refreshment. Restoration.

All too often, I find myself following my mind. Following my thoughts, my ideas, my dreams, my goals, my own visions for my life. Is this bad? Not always. But it can be.

Psalm 37:4 - Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

The Lord wants to give us the desires of our heart. Not of our mind. Because he knows our minds can manipulate our true desires. He knows the complexity of our minds can intervene with the desires of our hearts.

We allow our selfish aspirations to fill our minds and eventually overflow into what we believe is our heart's true desire.

We allow our doubts and our pride to corrupt our mind and convince ourselves we have it all under control, that the plan we have laid out for our own life is better than the plan He has.

We allow worry to form a barrier between our heart and mind.

We allow ourselves to doubt the gift He put inside of us that allows us to have a relationship with Him.

We often overlook the power of our hearts.

"When you don't understand, when you can't see His plan, when you can't trace His hand, trust his heart."