The hand of God...

Once you make the decision to follow Jesus and live your life according to biblical principals you become more aware of what's going on around you in your daily life. You begin to see things happening that you might not have seen before and you notice God working in areas of your life and in other people's lives that you were oblivious to before you became a Christian. I know this is true in my own life and everyday it's becoming more apparent to me as time goes on.
I became a believer when I was very young. I came forward at my parent's church and accepted Jesus as my savior, I was baptized and I was attending Sunday School every week like a good little boy. As I got older though I drifted away and lost sight of the commitment I had made to God but He never forgot about it and He never left my side no matter how many stupid things I did growing up or how many times I tried to get away. God never forgot about that day that I gave my life to Christ and He worked in my life daily to get me back through trials, hard times, disasters and many close calls along the way. About 8 months ago, with my son on the way and just getting over a really tough time that tested my faith I re-dedicated my life to Jesus 100% like I have never done before and my whole world has changed in that short time span. My mom had just gotten finished with her breast cancer treatments at that time and it seemed that she was going to be cured which was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and Christian was getting close to being born when I realized that even though I believed in God and I called myself a Christian I wasn't living the life that I needed to live. I realized that I needed to get closer to God and have a closer relationship with my heavenly father in order to live the life that I needed to live and to be the man that Christian and Vanessa deserved to have as the leader of our house. I have done some very selfish things in the past year that really caused me to take a closer look at the man I was becoming and I didn't like what I saw. It scared me to think that I was about to be a father and that I was going to have a son, a little guy that was going to look up to me and want to be just like me. When I looked at myself I didn't see anything in my character that I wanted anybody to take for their own and emulate much less my own flesh and blood son. I was disgusted to say the least and that's when I prayed to God to help me change and to do a mighty work in me and give me wisdom so I could become the man that my family needed to lead them. I started to read Christian books about getting my life on track and how to become a better Christian man. I forced myself to get up early to read and have a quiet time so I could get myself focused on God and start my day off right so I could be ready for whatever the day might bring forth. Vanessa and I decided to start going to church again once Christian was born because we hadn't gone in a long time and we were in between churches at the time when he was born. It was a hard process, to look at yourself in the mirror and not like what you see and have the courage to change not only for yourself but for the people who depend on you in this world. I have been through a lot of things in my life, a lot of them bad and some good but honestly it wasn't the bad things that happened to me that made me want to change; it was the thought that there are people all around me that depend on me and look up to me in whatever capacity and I was letting them down.
The hand of God is all around us in everything we do. Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens unless it's ordained by God. We are all put here on this earth with a specific purpose and destiny with people strategically placed around us by God that we are to influence to further the kingdom of God. As followers of Jesus we are supposed to live our lives a certain way to express the love and grace of our heavenly Father and if we are living according to God's commands and being obedient to Him then God will work through us to change the lives of people around us. We are not worthy of this honor and God doesn't use Christians because He needs us to do things; He uses people who are willing to be used and who are serving God to fulfill His will on this earth as a blessing to them and a blessing to those around them. Everyone has people in their lives that were put there for a reason by God himself and He wants to use YOU to point them toward the path. He wants to use YOU to show them what a follower of Jesus looks, acts, and sounds like and He wants to use YOU to bring them to church to feel and see the power of God so they might believe in Him. Our call as Christians isn't to SAVE people or to make disciples out of other people; it's to point people, our friends and family and the people we work with to the God of the Universe through our own lives and the way we serve Him everyday in everything we do. Everyone has someone they know that's going through a hard time or that is lost in this world. You don't need to go to Africa to be on a Mission for God all you need to do is look outside your own front door. It's hard to do don't get me wrong because we are so afraid of what someone else might say or think if we open up to them about our beliefs. We have been trained that we aren't supposed to OFFEND anybody and that if we talk about Jesus to someone who doesn't believe then they will get us in trouble or who knows what might happen. You never know what will happen until you give it a try and you will be surprised what kind of a reaction you might get from someone you thought would never be caught dead in a church. Who knows, they just might never have been invited to church before but they have been searching for meaning in this life and God has prepared their heart for this very moment in time and it is your job to bring them to the house of God where He can work on their heart and speak to them.
God works in mysterious ways they say and I know it's true. I never knew the power of God until I started living the life that God expects and requires us to live, if we are really to be called Christians, on a daily basis. Spending time talking to God anytime I can, reading His word on a daily basis and encouraging my friends and family with the hope and joy that comes from having a relationship with God. Trusting God has changed my life and I can't believe I lived so much of my life trying to do things my way instead of letting God take control and following where He leads me. It's so exciting to see God work around me in the people he brings into my life, the conversations that pop up out of the blue about God and the opportunities to share my story with people or invite them to church to experience it for themselves. It's refreshing to see God work the way that He does when I am at church. The electricity and excitement that happens in that building is remarkable and it energizes me and makes me want to tell everybody about it. That's the love of God and the hand of God at work.
Once I decided to live my life for Jesus and follow Him everything changed. Just knowing that the God of the Universe is on my side and is watching out for me makes this life so much easier to deal with. I still have bad days and things that bother me. I still have hang ups and I do stupid things but I know I am on the right track and I am walking in the right direction. Nobody is perfect, and I am certainly never going to achieve perfection but I want to live my life striving for excellence and being the best I can be. I want to live my life according to what is right and good in God's eyes and be a good example of what a Christian man is supposed to be for my son who will follow in my footsteps one day.
The hand of God is all around us all you have to do is open your eyes and really see. It's so easy to just look past what's going an around you because you are so busy doing whatever you are doing. Don't live your life in the fast lane all of the time because you might miss God along the way. He might put someone in your path that He has placed there specifically for you to talk to and if you aren't looking then you will just cruise right on by and you will never know it. Be on the look out for God to show up and you will see Him. The hand of God is everywher.