for by grace

& as I began to doubt, God said to me, “Your heart has grown dull and your eyes have slowly lost sight, but your story, I have been writing it, I’ve been writing it for a long time. If you take a detailed look around, you might be able to catch a small glimpse of what I’ve been building within you, around you, and for you. I have yet to reveal the fullness of it to you, but for now, take heart for I am right here, guiding you, shaping you, protecting you, and walking alongside you .”

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time (1 Peter 5:6) Humility and exaltation, two seemingly contradictory concepts, are somehow taught to come hand in hand in the Bible. To some extent it seems to make sense that God will personally lift and reward those who obey his teachings, but is that the full correlation between humility and exaltation, a mere exchange of obedience and reward? The process of achieving true humility is difficult. From my experience it could even be described as painful. It isn't purely based of a series of decisions you make, but also the process of allowing yourself to be stripped of entitlement and the very things you've proudly built your identity on. In the process of achieving humility we find our very cores, and come to the revelation that we are meaningless without God. It takes such revelation for exaltation to take place. When you are exalted from a place of humility, you will not attribute your gain to your own righteousness or self works. Instead, you will experience the power and goodness of God and give Him the full glory. This exaltation does generate pride but holds on to humility. This exaltation leads to the next revelation: that although you can do nothing without from God, you can do all things through him he who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13) Exaltation which stems from humility puts the focus on revelation rather than achievement. This type of exaltation also involves learning to know God better and finding your value through who he has empowered you to become.

You came, I knew that you would come.  You sang, my heart it woke up ♫

I am in the waiting, tears held back, vision blurred, but I trust that beauty lies before me, because I know He loves me.

So take me back, back to the beginning,  when I was young,  running through the fields with You ♫