Today is Day 2 of Lent. You'd think I would still be doing just fine with my sacrifices. And, I am. Kind of. I've been very paranoid about not being on FB. It is such a huge way that I keep in contact with people throughout the internet to keep tabs and make sure that everyone is doing well.
So, I must admit, I screwed up today. I messed up on one of my sacrifices. I'm not telling which one, and even if you know me inside and out - I'm still not telling. It's between me and God. BUT...it's been eating at me all evening. It really is quite horrible. Amazingly enough, God's forgiveness has really surrounded me and I've learned quite a bit merely from the experience of messing up. I'm not sure if I will regret it in the end, because of all that I've learned from it, but it certainly will be in the back of my mind the rest of this Lenten season.
As for the "Plus 30" portion of my Lenten commitment, it is going far better than I ever imagined. On Ash Wednesday, I did my devotion time before bed. I decided that doing it at night was not going to be the best thing, but I definitely got a lot out of it. Joel 2 was read at the Ash Wednesday service and the Scripture really clung to me. As I wrote earlier, I read the chapter and the verse that really stood out to me was Joel 2:13. It is written out from the NIV on a previous post. I think this verse may really be my theme for what this Lenten season is all about. I struggle with letting God change me from the inside to the outside. Often, I'm always trying to make sure my life is in order and that I do everything right so that people will not look down on me, but rarely do I read Scripture with the intent of changing my heart. I think I want to work on allowing Jesus to change my heart, not just how I look to other people. Both are important, however, what is seen on the outside is an overflow of the heart. So hopefully, there will be evidence of the change of my heart as this Lenten season moves onward.
Back on topic - I was actually late to work today because I did my devotion this morning, and I lost track of time. How great of an excuse to show up late to work! Sorry I was late, Jesus held me over! My boss didn't mind. Today, I woke up in a really "cranky" mood, so I read from Job. That got me out of it, and I moved onto some Scripture from John and finally from Proverbs. There were a couple verses that really stood out to me in Proverbs and so I wrote about them in my journal. It is amazing how I read completely different things on each day, yet the theme was continued. The theme of being open to Jesus working in one's life even in regards to discipline and rebuking from God. Hence why it struck me with my mistake earlier today...oh believe me, I was rebuked like...instantly!
Anyhow, I don't want to drag this on more than I must. So, I will post again tomorrow on how everything is going and what I've been learning. Believe it or not, I've learned QUITE A BIT in the last 48 hours or so. So here we go!!!!!
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