Seek Refreshment

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Last Saturday, I had an immense blessing.  Like submerging in the icy creek that runs through my backyard on a sweltering day, I was submerged in a group of women and girls to whom one thing was important: God. 

 

Refreshing doesn't begin to cover it! 

 

Here's just the tip of the mountain that God gave me to share that day:

Distractions divide your heart: God’s forgiveness makes it whole.

Being a woman after God's heart is easier said than done.  I will be honest with you.  There have been many many times in my life when I have sat in my seat at church, singing hymns to the Lord, or taking awesome notes that go on for pages and pages in my notebook, but all I could really think about was getting home and finishing that novel I was in the middle of.  Or checking my email.  Or getting the latest gossip from a friend.  Or getting complimented on the special music I just did.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like that dog on the movie Up: "Squirrel?  Where? Squirrel?" 

 

But before I start to get discouraged, I remember that David, the man after God’s own heart, was a man who got distracted, too.  He, too had idols. 

 

He wasn’t a man after God’s heart because he had such a righteous heart, but because he had such a righteous God. 

 

David was human, and he got distracted, but he was a man who sought God’s forgiveness.  David wrote Psalm 51:10 after committing adultery and murder, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  This is awesome news for us!  Not one of us is a perfect young woman, but God still calls us to lay aside our idols and distractions and seek Him, and He will cleanse and renew our hearts!    

You must seek God relentlessly!

Seeking doesn’t happen automatically like breathing or your heart beating or your eyes blinking. 

Nancy Leigh DeMoss says,

“We have to be willing to turn our attention away from other competing desires and distractions so that we can turn our eyes upon Jesus, focus on Him. We can't seek the one we love while we are loving and seeking after other things that compete with His place in our lives.”

 God’s Word also clearly shows that at any moment you and I are either seeking Christ or we are forsaking Him.  You can’t walk the ridgepole of the roof on this one—you either are on one side or the other.  In 1 Chronicles 28:9, David says,

"As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever."

God does not hide: if you are seeking God, He will be found!

So I have to ask: are you seeking God?  What are you constantly thinking about?  What do you daydream about?  What can you not live with out?  What do you go to great lengths to obtain?  What do you do instead of spending time with the Lord each day?  You have a throne in your heart, and the answers to these questions reveal who is on it.  Either God is king of your whole heart, or you have substituted an idol.  Who is on the throne in your life? 

 

To watch my session "A Young Woman After God's Heart" at the Beautiful for God Girl's Conference in its entirety, click here and scroll down.  Be sure to watch the other sessions as well, as they are incredibly encouraging!

 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.