Lead Me to the Cross

It has been a little while. I am writing something today that I have been meaning to write for a long time. It is about enjoying the journey. Something that I feel like I am constantly reminded of.

I have this one friend that is charismatic in her beliefs. She is a Christian and attends a charismatic church. We both believe in God and have been saved by grace, but that is where the similarities end. We disagree constantly on the details. She does not believe that things will get messy if God has directed you to do something. I, on the other hand disagree and point out missionaries around the world losing their lives for the sake of the gospel. I think my biggest thing with her is that she always seems so focused on blessings - material blessings. She is currently not working right now and every time I talk to her she says God is going to bless me with a great job. God is going to bless me with this. Or God is going to bless me with that. It seems like she is so focused on the end result that she forgets to stop and enjoy the journey.

I know some people are asking - what do you mean enjoy the journey? I mean enjoy the process of getting to the end result. Stop and smell the roses. Ask yourself what it is that God is trying to teach you during this time. It is like me. I am working on losing weight. When I started my completely safe no drastic stuff weight loss journey on January 10, 2014 I weighed 295 pounds. As of today I am down 54 pounds. I am not at my goal of 160 yet, but I am getting there. Would I like to be there now? Absolutely. But if I do not stop and enjoy the journey then I will miss out on the here and now. I will get caught up with the end result and that will frustrate me. I will forget to celebrate the little victories that happen along the way. Like each time I enter another decade of weight. Or each time I find I have another piece of clothing falling off of me.

As I write this, the same can be said for my friend at work. Or "friend." I do not know what he is these days. He and I both kind of had a difficult week last week. I had a mini-meltdown and took three days off of work. He had to make an emergency therapy session. Nice. I am praying for God to use me in his life and for his salvation. For miracles in his life because he needs it big time. I am praying for friendship. But that takes time just like when God draws a person to Himself. I have to enjoy the journey of getting to that point. Even if it means my friend or "friend" hits rock bottom. Which he is on the edge teetering. In the mean time I will be attending the Free at Last co-dependent group at my church so I can not have doormat secretly stamped on my forehead. Because when he does hit rock bottom and when he does come crawling to me, I will be more capable of setting boundaries both for him and for myself (he has attempted to set boundaries in a moment of anger which is not when you are supposed to do that. It is supposed to be under calm circumstances. And he has come back around every time).

I thought that the song Lead me to the Cross by Francesca Battistelli would be appropriate. After all, it is a journey of being led to the cross of the very One who loved us so much that He died for all of mankind. That if we repent of our sins, we too can live with Him in eternity.