stripped of my pride

Hey friends! I don't know about y'all, but this little lady has been going through one heck of a lot lately. Not to sound all "pity me" like, but life has just been plain stressful. I have had to wait on God's timing for major life choices, such as where I am living next year, and what I will be doing. Talk about CHAOTIC. As stressful as it has been, I have felt the Lord's guidance through the entire period. Despite the hundreds of times that I have doubted God to rescue me in my times of trouble, He has remained faithful. I am so undeserving of His grace, yet He loves me the same. I am so thankful to have this blog as an outlet, to look back on all the times with my experiences with God and how He has carried me through it.

These past few months of have been a period where God completely stripped me of my pride. Every last bit of it. There was no longer any room for me to say "God I got this whole life thing down I'll holler at yah when I need ya!" He has revealed to me my complete and utter need to depend on Him and on Him alone. He has revealed to me how completely selfish I am. He has revealed to me how negative my thoughts can easily become. He has revealed to me that without Him, I can literally do nothing. Yet, He hasn't given up on me. He has continued to renew me every day, despite the many areas of my life that need complete renewal.

In exchange of my pride for humility, God has given me so much more joy. I find so much more joy in my life knowing that it is in His hands and He is in control of who comes in and out of it and what happens to me. I find so much more peace in living for Him than I did in living for myself.

....Yet, I still often desire to go back to my prideful ways, there is still a part of me that wants to handle it all on my own, without God.

"Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

As soon as God answers a specific prayer in my life, it is crazy to see how easily it is for me to instantly go back into my prideful way of thinking. Yes I think it is important to be continuously joyful about what God blesses us with, but thankfulness and pridefulness are two completely different things, as I am learning so much about lately from God. For me to think, that "yes Jessica, you DESERVE this." No I don't deserve any of it, but God chooses to bless me despite if I deserve anything or not. He is my provider. He is my comforter. I am weak, but He is strong. Do you guys struggle with similar things such as this? Has pride ever been an issue in your walks with Christ? I'd love to hear! :). I think as Christians, its something we must always watch out for {to not become prideful}.

So friends, keep boasting in Christ, because the second you boast of anything but Him, your prideful ways have a way of creeping right back into your life.

I love you all! I hope you have a beautiful day. Thank you for all of the encouragement that you provide me with, friends! xo