"He comforts us in all our troubles"
- 2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT

I've been thinking about many things lately. Some have been hard to deal with. Parts of my heart that I forgot about are starting to surface. Other parts that I tried to kill are coming back to life.

I was spending some time with God and He told me something:

"I will never leave you; I will never forget you."
-Hebrews 13:5 NCV

I realized that most of the time, when I'm praying,

"God help me with this thing"
"God protect me in this situation"
"God, this is really bothering me"

and all those sorts of things, what I am really saying is:

"God, don't forget me"
"God, don't give up on me"
"God, don't turn your back on me"
"God, don't walk away from me"
"God, don't abandon me"
"God, don't fail me"

These heartbreaking things will happen to both me and you during our lives. People are going to let us down. People are going to hurt us. And, sadly, sometimes it's the people that matter most to us that do these things. So we wonder...

"...Will God do the same?"

The answer is a resounding "No!".

This world is a broken place. The people of this world are broken as well. But, God is Someone we can always count on. He is someone who will never fail us. He notices our troubles and is concerned with our pain.

"You've kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book."
-Psalm 56:8 MSG

God notices you. God cares for you. God loves you. God is concerned with every aspect of your life. Bad things will happen, but God is still good. Every person is somehow going to let you down, but not God - He will prove to be faithful again and again. So go to God, and

"Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you."
-1 Peter 5:7 NCV

We were made for something more

"There is something missing in all of this. There is something more. Aren't you thirsty? Listen to your heart. There is something missing. Listen to me - there is something missing in all this. You long to be in a love affair, an adventure. You were made for something more. You know it. Our hearts are telling us the truth - there really is something missing!"

What is in my heart? What are my passions? What is really important to me? What are my deepest desires? What do I really want to live for?

These are questions which have been going through my mind more now than ever before. Day and night, even in my deepest hours of sleep when my heart is most vulnerable to what's really going on. Something has been stirring in me. A desire for something more. Something greater than what I have now and something greater than myself.

It's so easy to lose focus on what's really important. It's so easy to focus only on this world. "I want to be rich", "I want to be famous", "There is nothing more to live for, so I might as well get and do what I can now". Those are probably some of the most common dreams and ideas that people have always had. Personally, those things couldn't be any more worthless to me. What good would it do me if, as Jesus said, I had "...everything the world has to offer, but lost my own soul, the real me"?

My heart won't be satisfied with those things. I want more. I know there has to be more, and that there is more. I want an adventure with God. I want to live totally for Him - everyday for Him, every moment for Him. I want all my life and energy to go into His purposes and His vision. God has had a plan since before the universe was made, since before there was time and from farther back in eternity than you can even imagine or comprehend. He's calling me and everyone here to be part of that plan. I want to be part of that plan, and to be part of something that really matters for all eternity. To fight the spiritual battles, to rescue the lost, to be brought through the struggles and go as far as I can and then, in His strength, to go even farther. I want people to see His light and know Him for themselves. I want to see people come alive. To be brought out of the slavery of sin, darkness, and a life without purpose and say, "I never knew He was this good!" I want to know Him more. To be as close with Him as though I were face to face with Him in Heaven itself.

I know this wont be easy. Even now I feel the fear of what it will cost. But God's not asking for me to only "sorta" follow Him. He asking for my heart; the total surrender of my heart to Him. He's asking for hot or cold, for Him or against Him, all or nothing, no holding back.

He says,

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple...any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."

"Is faith a risk? Of course. But failing to step out in faith is to risk missing real life. Risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."

I don't want to settle for just a little bit of God. I don't want to experience only a fraction of His fullness.

I want to really live...