The Voices Within Me

Tim, the kids and I went out to take this picture this past Saturday and I honestly believe it is one of my favorite "non-portrait" pictures I have ever taken. Maybe it is b/c of the vibrant color, maybe it is b/c of it being on railroad tracks (which reminds me of my FIL) or maybe it is b/c it was taken for a promo for our youth church service that I am leading and I think it speaks volumes towards the topic... but no matter what the reasoning behind it, I absolutely love it.

So this picture is entitled, "Journey" and as I mentioned above, it was going to be for a youth church service coming up in September. We actually went with another picture from that day, but no matter, this one still speaks to what my topic is going to be for the day. See, the theme of journey rings strong to me when i think about the Christian faith. So many people get caught up in the "I was saved today so now my life will automatically change and I have done what I need to do to get into heaven" mindset. To me, that isn't what I see the Scriptures saying. To me, they talk of our walk of faith being a journey... one that will have hills and valleys, one with straight paths and one where we come to a Y, but a journey none-the-less. Faith isn't just saying that you accept Christ, but moreso that after that point you continue to seek after Him and continue searching to know Him deeper. I really don't think that we can ever fully know and understand Him, but that is one of the things that make my faith so personal. My journey isn't the same as Tim's, or Micah's or Addie's or yours. It is my personal journey that has been laid out from the moment He created me. I am excited to see what the journey holds and trust that even when I am in the valley, that He will be there to coach me on to continue walking this walk of faith with Him.

Philippians 3:12-14

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.