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| Giving God my ALL…finally |
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6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength.
(Jesus added, “and with all your mind” in Matt. 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27)
It seems ever since I first professed faith in Jesus as a kid, I’ve been on a long journey towards making this my reality. To love God with absolutely ALL I’ve got. Raised in a Christian home (though not a perfect one), I was taught to give my life to the Lord. We never talked about specifically how much of it to give though.
As a teen, I guess I decided that I had given too much of it already, and that I needed some of it back. So from then through college into my mid-twenties, I partied. A couple years after marrying a lovely Christian bride (who was similarly backslidden at the time), I realized that there wasn’t much real satisfaction in giving my life to the world. So I resumed giving it to God.
After a couple more years of being a respectable young Christian husband, our firstborn arrived. It was then that I realized there were tangible rewards for giving your life completely to someone else. So I gave myself to my daughter without reserve. Or so I thought! Child #2 arrived, and I remember explaining to child #1, a bright two-year old, that I didn’t have to take anything away from her in order to love her new sister too. But I’m only human, cannot be in two places at once. So child #1 indeed lost something when a sister showed up.
About five years later, we moved to California so I could attend grad school. For eleven months, I had to withdraw my life from everyone, in order to complete assignments and pass tests. The program was intensive and exhausting, and there was little time to play, romance, relax, etc. It was a year of spiritual and emotional drought. The day my degree was complete, our whole family danced and hollered with delight! I was able to give myself back to my precious family!!
I also resumed giving my life to God. For me, 2004 was a year of spiritual renewal! I hungered for God like never before! Faith took me to new heights, worship to new depths. Giving to God never came easier! After a lifetime of cautious steps and slow growth, I was finally ready to take full strides. At a New Years party with some church friends at the end of that year, at approximately 12:05 a.m., January 1, 2005, I prayed a prayer I’ll never forget. It was based on Deuteronomy 6:5, and went something like this...
Lord, I want to love you with ALL of my heart, ALL of my soul, and ALL of my strength. That is the greatest desire of my heart! In Jesus’ name...
It was the first time I’d ever prayed anything like that. This prayer put words to the yearning that was at the heart of my spiritual renewal. For the first time in my life, I was ready to hold nothing in reserve. At last, my life was God’s…ALL of it.
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| To add a comment to "Giving God my ALL…finally" |
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| August 27, 2009 |
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Amen, and amen! |
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| August 27, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Amen |
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| August 27, 2009 |
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| Look at your results, Mike. You offer Godly advice for who knows how many. Priceless...not boring. Priceless. |
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| August 27, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Mike,
I think your testimony is beautiful. It reminds me of my husband. With each passing day, I think he loves God more and more.
You know, we've talked about it, and we both love God more... it just has to be that way. And in loving God more, we're able to love each other and our children more fully.
You will never be boring. You will always fascinate me. Always.
Your sister in Christ,
Joey |
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| August 27, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Mike, dear brother, your testimony is no where near boring. No one's testimony is ever boring except perhaps to themselves. You've just illustrated how God works with us, over sometimes long periods (like he has in my life), loving us and drawing us closer and closer to him if we let Him. For me too, giving my all to God has been a gradual and life long process. I enjoyed reading your story :-) |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| :o] |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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Smilin back atcha Stevie. =) Thanks MarJay...everyone likes encouragement, and you regularly supply it :) That's a great point JS (Penny). And believe me, God is workin w/me slowly. I used to tell ppl I was on the "slow growth plan". I never rush into anything. Joey, you are such a ray of sunshine. Have you any idea how adore-able you are? Thanks for sharing yourself w/me and everyone here. :-) TM (Anthony), ah....if anything I say is considered helpful, I am deeply appreciative of God for saying it through me. |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
THANK YOU Mike for sharing some of your testimony!!
Although my life was NOTHING like this, I know how you felt in 2004 ( tears welling up in my eyes) cuz thats how I felt in 2004!! The year I FINALLY gave my life to Christ. I felt that hunger then and still do. With doing so I am a better daughter/wife/mother & friend. I am a better person.
Thanks again Mike God Bless you & your family!
Your sister in Christ,Donna |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Not boring at all - extremely uplifting how God works everything together for our growth. May the Lord continue to bless you & your family. |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| Donna, and a lovely sister in Christ you are, too! Thank you. :) Also standing in agreement that Jesus has made me a far better son/husband/father & friend. Inviting Jesus in is the first half of that battle. Giving him ALL of me was the rest, and oh how long that took me! |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| Panda, you are so sweet! But compared to our brothers/sisters with a "road to Damascus"-like testimony, I'm afraid it is pretty boring. Nevertheless, it is a testimony of God's love, so even though it lacks the excitement, the thrills and chills of the more spectacular stories of God's intervention, it is still God's intervention in the life of a silly human. And that in itself is an amazing story. Hugs to you, Ms Panda. :-) |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| We all have traveled different roads; however, the testimony of each of us glorifies the Lord & what He has done & will continue doing. |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| Amen Panda. Just read Stevie B's blog about the Onion Syndrome. One of his points, that God's story (his-tory) is like a stew, made up of all types of testimonies (carrots, potatos, and...onions!). They are all needed to make the stew! |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| Amen & amen!!! Absolutely the truth. |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Hey Mike,
Thanks for sharing your heart here! I think I need to pray that prayer and restart my life in Him.
peace |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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Thanks Glenn. You know, I think it would be a GREAT idea if every believer made this a regular prayer! The greatest obstacle to us receiving all that God offers to us in this life is US! (Spiritually speaking, that is. Not name it/claim it health/wealth etc.) |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
The process of growing into what God wants for us is slow and sometime painful. It has it's ups and downs yet we do get there. For some it seems to be like a fast train and for others as slow as a turtle, however we do get there. It is because He never wavers and knows exactly what we will and will not do. He knows how much we can bear and never overloads us. He knows our hearts and has the patience of ages... You are a remarkable person Mike and I am so grateful that God led me to this sight and you and all the rest of my brothers and sisters in Christ. The road is long and narrow and all we have to do is stick and stay (easier said than done sometimes, eh(that's a Lara word, LOL).
Much Love |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
I used to pray that daily! But I had forgotten. Seems to me I need to do that again. |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| Amen a reminder that we are all 'a work in progress' with no exceptions. |
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| August 28, 2009 |
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Awesome Mike and you sure are great at expressing yourself. (still think you should be a pastor or something along that line)
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| August 28, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Opps, forgot the star. hehehe
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| August 28, 2009 |
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I asked Jesus into my heart at the ripe old age of 25 and it's taken another 25 years to realize that He is in control. Now may I be blessed with 25 years to praise Him for His All in All. Thank you, Mike, for being you and sharing your stories and testimonies. |
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| August 29, 2009 |
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| lolz the Godsent gang was here |
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| August 29, 2009 |
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Mary (mstovall), yes growth is slow and growth is painful, or can be. You are so kind, sister!! Your comments, and your grace, have deeply encouraged me. I believe you've also been a great source of encouragement to "Sherlock" :-) As for me, I guess I'm living proof that God does the drawing, we don't put it all together ourselves. Thus it is entirely by God's grace that any of us can call him "Lord". I'm not so smart after all.... and fortunely I don't need to be. Lara, we all need reminders. God has put quite a few ppl in my life to remind me continually. b/c continually I need them!!! |
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| August 29, 2009 |
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Prayerful...works in progress...amen to that! Megan, thanks. You ARE the embodyment of encouragement. Sister - thankfully Jesus LOVES us and works IN us when we offer ALL of ourselves to him. Love ya! Teral...we are charting a parallel course. Thank the Lord we are going in the right direction!! I declare war....haha, changed your name again, have you? :) |
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| August 29, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
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| August 30, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Great blog! P.S.... That year in Redlands was absolutely HORRIBLE!! I'm glad we never have to do that again!!! :) |
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| September 09, 2009 |
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| [star!] |
Great blog- and thank you for reminding me to give my all to God. Teens don't get that very much, or they get too much of it. Thanks again! [star] XD |
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