There's a Message in This..

It’s 6:00 AM! My alarm has just gone off. I say my prayer of thanksgiving and ask God for my needs of the day. I unlock my phone and go to the Bible App…

My streak is gone.

All My YouVersion Bible App friends, can you relate?! I don’t know how many times this has happened to me in 2018, but I can tell you it’s never been a nice feeling. After beating myself up for 5 minutes, I finally calm down and complete the next day of whatever plan I’m on.

What would my year have been like if I didn’t listen to my Spirit soothing me and telling me it’s okay? How would things have turned out if I just stopped reading my Bible completely? After this year, I don’t know. I honestly don’t want to imagine how some things would have turned out if I didn’t stay in my Word, even if I missed a few days.

Let’s fast forward to this month. In the Bible App, YouVersion does this cool thing called a Bible Snapshot. It tells you different things: how many days you’ve been in the Bible, how many weeks you’ve completed perfectly, how many highlights you’ve made, plans you’ve completed, and more. Remembering how many times I’ve messed up my streak, I was scared to see my results. I probably didn’t even reach 150 days. I was extremely humbled as I saw my results.

This year I’ve been in the Bible more than I can ever remember. Very close to 365, but not quite, and that’s okay. I am proud of how far I’ve come, especially in comparison to years past.

There’s a message in this. This phrase has constantly left my lips as of late. I’ve said it jokingly, but recently I’ve noticed that there’s a lot of things that have a message in them. If we’re not looking at them through a biblical lens, we’re not going to view it in that sense. It could be something as simple as navigating around a puddle on your daily route or even your conversation with a stranger. Messages are everywhere if we’re looking for them.

With this situation, I’ve learned that how you view situations is so important.  Being a selective perfectionist, I could’ve stopped the first time I messed up my streak and told myself, “I’ll try again next year.” Sometimes in my walk with God, I think I need to be a perfectionist because I am facing a perfect God. One of the great things I’ve done this year is extend grace to myself, especially in my relationship with Him. I would always compare myself amongst my peers and see how much knowledge they’ve obtained, or hear of the things they’re learning in the Word and try so hard to make sure I’m reading too. After a while, it seemed like I was doing it out of chore, instead of love and desire. The thing is, I wasn’t reading because I wanted to get to know God more, I was reading so I could say I’ve done it too. Where was that going to get me? Any closer to God? No, just the ability to say I’ve done it (the approval of man). When I changed my mindset to “I’m going to read as a way to know God more” I worried less about numbers and more about the One I was serving.

As said before, this year I’ve read God’s Word more and it’s been a wonderful year because of it. It’s been one of my goals and I’ve been closer than ever before. I believe that through this experience God was teaching me to worry less about the approval of man and focus on what is going on between me and Him. I also believe that He was teaching me that He doesn’t want perfection, just obedience. Sure, if I knew this from the beginning, I would’ve done it right from the start. But what I love about Him is that He’s always teaching us, if we’re paying attention. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8).

Maybe you had some goals, this year, that you just missed the mark on. I want to encourage you and let you know that it’s okay. Even the most disciplined people mess up, sometimes. 2019 begins tomorrow. You have another opportunity to begin a year of something new. Take it up to God and ask Him to help you. Remember that there’s grace for you. And when you mess up, just pick up right where you left off. You can’t accomplish your goals if you stop working towards them.

I hope that your 2018 was wonderful, and if not overall, I hope that you at least had small moments of light that you can carry with you into the new year. I pray you have a wonderful 2019. I pray that it’s a year of growth, more intimacy with God, and memories!

Much love always,

Kumam B. Khasar