Last night, I attended an evening service that I'll never forget. And for reasons that are too numerous to name. But mainly because the pastor said:
You only have one lifetime of affection. Who or what will you give it to?
Not as profound as you expected? Well, think again. One lifetime of affection. Yet, so many things and people to give it to. If you're like me, you've made the mistake of giving affection to undeserving things. Or you've failed miserably in balancing it. The end result is always the same - frustration and disappointment.
We tend to turn to God once we've spent everything we have [financially, emotionally, and mentally] on everything else; then He gets whatever we have left. What would happen if we lived this lifetime of affection with God as the center? What if we gave Him our best and our first instead of our worst and our last?
God, help us to stop giving you our leftovers. You deserve our all and our affection. Nothing more. Nothing less.
..and the church said, Amen!!!
Posted by: Leigh | June 16, 2009 at 04:24 PM
What a great testimony Annell!
Posted by: Toi | May 22, 2009 at 02:07 AM
On this issue, I truly agree with you Ms. Jones. There have been times in my sixty-one years on this Earth when the only thing I had to cling to was God. Bad decisions, a difficult thirty-four year marriage, divorce, more poor decisions, etc. but I clung to God the best way I knew how. He never let me down and never forgot about me, even when I was doing my worse. I have never counted myself among His rightous, but I do know that He talks to me; He walks with me; He guides my decisions; He has blessed me beyond anything, anyone could possible measure. I know that each morning that I wake up and put one foot in front of the other and am in my right mind that He still holds me where I want to be, spiritually wrapped in the hem of His clothing. I feel like the woman who had been hemorrhaging for a long time and could get no help from the doctors. She knew that if she touched the hem of Jesus's garment, she would be healed and she was.
Posted by: Annell Sampson-Jones | May 16, 2009 at 08:16 AM