Warmth.

Hello friends! 

Long time, no blog post. Adulting has been adulting, but I thank the Holy Spirit for holding my hands as I figure out this phase of my life. I have had this theme of warmth on my heart for the longest time. I knew what it was about, but I just couldn’t put it into words. It’s winter season here in the U.S., and although I have been here for quite a while, this cold is one thing I don’t think I’ll ever get used to (Laughs). Every day, I can’t wait to get home, take a hot shower, turn on my heater, and snuggle up in my bed. One night, as usual, I got home from work, ate, showered, and was ready to pray. It was extremely cold outside, so cold that if you left a bottle of water out, it would freeze in no time. As I lay down on my bed with my heater on, I felt such a deep sense of relief. It had been a long, cold day. As I began to talk to God, I felt a deeper level of relief in my soul. Similar to the feeling of warmth. The feeling I have when I can finally catch a breath in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life and give my soul the heart-to-heart fellowship and deep worship it needs in the presence of God. At that moment, I knew what this blog post was supposed to be about. 

The past few months have been months of deep reflection. My heart has been aching for quietness and has been burdened by how as an adult, now working full time, I have to fight for my devotion. I have to make so many sacrifices to ensure that the cares of this world don’t choke my walk with God. At how I have to occasionally snap myself out of the cycle of hustle and remind myself to LIVE. My heart has been burdened by how the responsibilities and cares of this world create so much noise and distraction. At how your passion may not be able to generate financial stability yet, so you have to pick up jobs that can pay your bills while you develop your skills and talents to where they can give you both fulfillment and stability.

The more I navigate life and take on more responsibilities, the more I crave the warmth that the presence of God brings. The stillness, the escape from the troubles of this world. I have been asking myself, how did we get here? How did we get to the point where the very reason for our existence is the thing we have so little time for? Deep sigh. Hussle, work, come back home tired, fall asleep praying because of how tiring the day was, or barely even have time to spend with God, then go again the next day. There is such an at-homeness in the presence of God, a deep soothing my soul knew it needed. 

The Holy Spirit has been teaching me that my twenties are the most defining decade of my life. A season of planting and investing, of paying my dues even if it looks like working jobs that pay way less than I desire and giving it my very best because I am new to the career world and I am trying to get experience. A season of patience and pruning. He has been teaching me that although it feels like I can’t keep up with the speed of changes happening in this phase, as He guides me, in time, I will find a beautiful rhythm to life.  

I have heard people talk about how they once burned for the Lord, but the cares of this world choked it away. As responsibilities set in, there was an initial friction between navigating life and keeping one’s spiritual altar burning, but they somehow caved into the pressures, gave up trying and settled into the cycle of survival. That’s the scariest thing ever, and I pray that it will not be the story of anyone reading this, in Jesus name. 

Dear young adult, this is a phase that will pass. Please hold God tight, involve Him in your every decision to avoid errors that will cost years to fix, because truly, this is the defining decade of our lives. Recognize the anomaly of the cycle of survival–a life that revolves around seeking for daily bread at the expense of your divine assignment and the important things of life: God, family, relationships. I pray God helps you see the seriousness of this. This is easily one of the ways the enemy keeps people from fulfilling purpose. Money is too small to be the reason for your existence. The nations are waiting for you, and you’re over here only thinking of putting food on your table. Even if you are in the rat race, recognize its anomaly as you work towards breaking the cycle. Fight for your devotion. Make sacrifices to ensure that you don’t go a day without spending time with God.

Normalize spending time with God, enjoying His presence, not spending half the time talking about your needs. Even when you don’t have a long stretch of time, converse with God as you go about your day and be conscious of His presence. It is from the overflow of your walk with God that you can pour into anything else, so don’t let your walk with God be the first to suffer as responsibilities heap. Prioritize and keep reprioritizing as needed.

May we not get to the end of our lives and find out that we spent our lives trying to stay alive. I feel like I have ranted so much in this blogpost (laughs) but let me know in the comments if can relate to anything I’ve said.

Thank you for reading and till next time, byeee!