“La vie éternelle consiste à te connaitre, toi le seul véritable Dieu, et à connaitre Jésus-Christ que tu as envoyé.” (Jean 17 :3)

Here is the verse that shaped my entire year.

Entering in this new year, I was not expecting to go through one of the biggest spiritual attacks of my life, and definitely not on my birthday. But as horrible as it was, it awakened something in me. And this is when I truly decided to choose life and to not live life passively.

In this, I learned to lean on God again and fell in love with Him all over again. I understood what is the true meaning of life, which is to know Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life.

Life is in Him, through Him and Him. And the only way to do it is with Him.

In the midst of desperation and questioning, God showed me His light and what I had to do was to choose life.

“J’en prends aujourd’hui à témoin contre vous le ciel et la terre: j’ai mis devant toi la vie et la mort, la bénédiction et la malédiction. Choisis la vie, afin que tu vives, toi et ta postérité,” (Deutéronome 30:19)

This is when I truly understood that to live is a choice, and so is everything about it. Through all the dwelling on the subject, God also revealed to me that life is not a punishment. It may sound weird and crazy, but a lot of people go through life wishing they weren’t, even Christians.

However, we have to understand that we get to experience it and it’s a wonderful privilege in which we get to see and participate and encounter God’s glory. One of the beauties of this life is that faith gets to birth and take place here. This is such a different dimension of God’s love. Yet, I can comprehend that it is a difficult concept for us to grasp.

So often as Christians, we are so eager to get to Heaven. We want to live in this perfect peace and joy, seemingly forgetting that God’s fullness is already here.

“Comme le Père m’a aimé, je vous ai aussi aimés. Demeurez dans mon amour. Si vous gardez mes commandements, vous demeurerez dans mon amour, de même que j’ai gardé les commandements de mon Père, et que je demeure dans son amour. Je vous ai dit ces choses, afin que ma joie soit en vous, et que votre joie soit parfaite.” (Jean 15:9-11)

All we have to do is believe it, receive it and truly grab hold of it.

In His Word, He says: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

His will for us on Earth is the same as in Heaven. His promises for us in the Bible are still true today.

“Je vous laisse la paix, je vous donne ma paix. Je ne vous donne pas comme le monde donne. Que votre coeur ne se trouble point, et ne s’alarme point.” (Jean 14:27)

“Jésus Christ est le même hier, aujourd’hui, et éternellement.” (Hébreux 13:8)

With this whole situation I really got to meditate on humility, God’s faithfulness and unchangingness. I was living life by simply surfing on the wave of my blessings, but I was slowly losing sense of the meaning of it all.

I was living in it, but somehow, I had lost sense of the purpose attached to my life.

And in the midst of it all, God didn’t abandon me, nor forsake me.

God pursues us everyday and says “Come to me my daughter. Come to me my son. Let me revive you!” Nonetheless, we have to choose life. He won’t force us. He sets it before us, but He won’t force us.

For anyone, who may have lost every sense of wanting to live. Whether your life is going well or bad, but for some reason you lost the sense of life. The sense of who Jesus is. Let us pray:

Father, Thank you for your unchanging love and grace for me. Thank you for seeing me and hearing me. Thank you for being my peace and my joy. Thank you because your Word doesn’t return to you until it is fulfilled, so whatever you have spoken over me, over my life will come to pass. Thank you for filling my heart and that I never have to be nor feel empty ever again. Thank you because you are the redeemer of time. No matter the situation I may have put myself in that caused me to be hurt, you restore me. I want and will trust again. Forgive me for the times, I may have been mad at You or doubted You. And thank you for your never ending mercy. Thank you because today I choose to live, not according to the world, but according to you, Father. I choose to receive who you truly are and all that you have for me. I choose to believe you and trust you. I choose to surrender my life completely to you and to let your Holy Spirit guide me and lead me. You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind, and I shall not be afraid of your greatness and to live and participate in it. I humble myself before you Lord and recognize that I need you and that I am nothing without you. The things of this world are temporary but eternal life is to know you and to know Jesus Christ your son, whom you sent.

Today and every day to come, I choose life. I choose Jesus!

Amen!

Be blessed!

HLL