Worth Fighting For

As stated by my last post, I'm going through a lot right now. I've learned that life isn't always easy and there will be times and seasons during which it will be a struggle to be happy due to certain circumstances. I'm in one of those seasons, and it's not easy. It's not easy waking up every day and having to make the choice to be joyful, to be passionate for God, to fight with all you've got to rest in God's presence.
Through this time in my life, I've learned that God is worth fighting for. Happiness and the joy of the Lord are things worth fighting for, and sometimes, we are going to have to fight for them. Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean life is easy, but it does mean that you will never have to walk alone, that God will always be there to lift you up.
Even though it has been a hard season, I am so thankful to be walking through this because it has strengthened my walk with God in ways I can't even describe. I have found that there is so much joy in simply being in His presence, and that He needs to always, always be my number one, even when I don't feel like putting Him first.
I've been reading through Job and it's been so incredible to see that he was going through so much more than I am right now, and he still found rest in God. He never let go. He fought for God. I want to be more like him. I want to continually fight for my time with God, even when my schedule gets busy and my life gets hard. I want to fight to rest in the joy that is found only in spending time with Christ, and I want to walk in His peace every moment of my life.
I want to encourage you guys to fight for your time with God. Fight for His joy. It's more than worth it, and once you get a taste of it, you will want it more and more.

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."
-Job 1:21

God is Good, Always.

Well, I am officially three days into my second semester here at NCU. I wish I could tell you everything is all great and peachy, but this is real life, and in real life, that isn't always the case. Things have been really rough lately. I've been struggling in more ways than one. Winter sucks.
Today, I was spending some time with God, just talking to Him about everything that's going on right now in life, and since it's the 13th, I decided to read Psalm 13, and realized that it was about my life right now. Crazy.

"How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Lean on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give life to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, 'I have overcome him,' and my foes will rejoice when I fail. But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me." 

As you probably did, I was reading the first 4 verses feeling like crap, but then I got to that fifth verse and it was just a great reminder. I must always trust in God because He is good to me regardless of my current situation. My reality does not have to define my destiny. My God is faithful always, even when I am struggling. He has already done so many great things for me and I need to remember to rejoice in those always and trust in the joy of the Lord to be my strength all of my days.