We never walk alone. And this is our hope.

I have honestly thought about blogging every week since I left for the summer. The amount of information and knowledge about Jesus, myself, and others that I learned and am still learning is so incredible-words cannot describe it well enough. Laziness was not the issue in my lack of writing, but prioritizing. My body constantly needed rest, my coworkers constantly needed encouragement, and my mind constantly needed refreshment that didn't come often enough. So after time of debriefing, I decided to take one huge thing that the Lord taught me this summer and share. Much of this is inspired by various pastors, friends, and personal revelations that the Lord has used to change my heart and mind, and I am still learning what it looks like to live all this out. The first reason I write this is so that I will never forget what I've learned, and the second that maybe Jesus might speak to you individually through my broken words.

The title of this blog is that our only hope is in the fact that we do not walk alone. More than ever, this summer I realized how we have an advocate-Jesus Christ- but how we also have an adversary-satan. As hard as God is working for us in His will, the devil is constantly working against us in destroying God's will for our lives. So many times this summer I was digging deep into the Word, asking the hard questions to other staff, and seeking the Lord in prayer and deep thought, and the closer I got to the Lord, the more satan clouded my mind with insecurities and distractions to keep me away from my only true Help. Several times I felt so easily attacked mentally and emotionally that I could barely focus on everyday life. Hardships were also happening at home, and the "here and now" was the last thing on my mind. The more responsibility I had, the more my weaknesses and flaws became apparent, pushing me into attention-based actions and selfish thoughts. "In my weakness, Your strength is made complete" became my theme verse.

I had always heard the importance of memorizing scripture and had begun to memorize the book of James for a challenge of Ecclesia. Little did I know how the mind can truly be transformed by the very Word of God. Every thought I took captive and I began to seek ye first the kingdom, begging God to replace these distractions of the devil. He began showing me practical applications of his Living Word that I could not stop thinking about, and through that He saved me day by day out of the devil's traps. He showed me 1 Corinthians 10 where Paul tells us that we do not use earthly weapons, but we fight with divine power to demolish strongholds-physically and mentally.

Every action begins with a belief, every belief with a thought, perfectly explaining that our thought life is so crucial to how we live. Every thought that said I wasn't good enough, Christ replaced it with 1 John 3:1, "How great is the love the Father lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!..." Any thought that said I needed to have it all together was fought with 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness'". The more I tried to be impressive and perfect, the less I allowed Christ's grace to show through me. It's okay for us to be broken-God likes to use broken pieces to make masterpieces. Any time I became anxious or consumed by the future, Christ said, "Trust in [me] with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge [me] and [I] will direct your path." How comforting and assuring are those words. I trusted the Lord with the salvation of my soul, how much more should I trust him with the simplistic things in life.

This tiny article cannot even measure up to the work Jesus did this summer, but one thing I know for sure, God is so good to us. He is so good. And He will never leave us. He walks with us through the valley and on the mountain tops. Hide His words in your heart, trust Him, and run after Him. Because if we go after Jesus and we get everything, Jesus is still better, and if we go after Jesus and it costs us everything, Jesus is still worth it.