accountability

over the past 6 months or so, our pastor has given two or three sermons on accountability. find someone you trust and meet with them regularly. confess your sins to others so that you can run the race and follow Christ unhindered, without setbacks. spur one another on to become better Christians, to make one another more Christ-like. go through the ups and downs of life on earth with someone else who can pray for you, give you guidance and help you with discernment.

well, being a dental student and also being the type to fill my life up to the brim with social activities, it's probably not a surprise that over the past few months i think i have become less accountable rather than more-so, despite the reminders. i took a semester long hiatus from my small group because i knew school this fall would be all-consuming, i don't have too too many Christian girlfriends in d.c. i would consider "close" and have now lost my closest friend (my heidi sister!) to California. i also don't ride the metro to and from school anymore, which was my daily devotionals time, and have a difficult time organizing my studying to fit in time for God before bed. what does this spell?

d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r.

or rather, it spells: i have been so bad about being in the Word and spending time with God! it's no wonder that i haven't been evangelizing, seeing God working in my life, or remembering to pray for others- it's not on my mind or in my heart and thus, it isn't on my lips.

so, what to do? well, for starters, i'm back in the Word, as of now. (like, right this instant.) i know exactly when i fell of the bandwagon (i finished reading daniel and those last few chapters were serrrriousssly boring), so i get to start a new book! basically, the sky is the limit. i think i'll switch back to the new testament and do a quick review of philippians since we're studying it in church right now, i understand it and since it's the first book i ever really read from the Bible it just might get me all fired up! then maybe i'll head back into the old testament for another book i haven't read. i'm also going to read through "the Prodigal God", a book by Tim Keller that was given to me by a friend. finally, since i'm not sure i can presently answer the question "how have you seen God working in your life this week?" i'm going to re-focus and start writing down the things i'm thankful for, my prayer requests, friends and family i want to pray for and how i see God answering my prayers (not all at once, but as they come). these are all things i've typically done, but have fallen out of the habit of doing. time to get back up, dust myself off and run the race!

"therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
~hebrews 12:1-2

"out of the depths i cry to you, o Lord; o Lord, hear my voice. let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. if you, o Lord, kept a record of sins, o Lord, who could stand? but with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. i wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word i put my hope. my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. o israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem israel from all their sins."
~psalm 130