Made Whole

The sacrifice God wants is a broken spirit. God, you will not reject a heart that is broken and sorry for sin. (Psalms 51:17 NCV)

I've had a difficult past couple months. There's been so many blessings and reasons to be grateful for what God's continuing to do in my life, but recently I've been in the midst of some serious trials. I almost went a half year without the sin that kept me tied down for 10 years, because of the pieces of my life that were more than enough to keep me going. But... I'm back at it; it's made a few knocks at my door, and I've let it in again. These moments leave me feeling awfully broken, like I'm in a constant cycle of falling into the same mistakes over and over. What keeps me together is His grace, love, and mercy. God hasn't given up on me, despite having every reason to. He's place very important, valuable people in and around my life to put a smile on my face and peace in my heart. I don't know what tomorrow's battle will look like, but knowing that I'm not alone, knowing that I have friends and family on my side praying for me, that's what gives me the upper hand should I choose to utilize it. I may be hurt, I may be bruised emotionally and spiritually broken, but He proves Himself faithful every second He allows me to live. Every breath is a gift of love, every heartbeat a validation of His promises and truths. If you're on the same boat, struggling with a burden on your back, it's okay. God just wants you, every bit of you. We can approach Him as we are, and He will accept us. I may be broken, but I am not destroyed beyond repair.

What I'm Up To

So here's the thing: I haven't been a very good social media friend. I tend to be the kind of person that focuses so much on what I'm doing in the here and now that I neglect to stay in touch with the multitude of friends and family I've gained over the years; there are a lot of you, I will say that, but I know I could be doing so much more to reach out to you guys and gals and hear about your adventures. I want to just take a moment and apologize if I've come off as that person you never hear from or haven't heard from in way too long; it sucks to think that I've lost touch with some pretty great people because of that. That being said, I would at least like to share what's been going on in my life, so I'll try and sum it up as best I can. - I've called Bay Hills Community Church my home for a year now. Coming home from my time in Australia was exciting because I learned from a pretty reliable source that "the best is yet to come". I made the choice to move back mainly for the sake of my family and being here for them, but over the course of a year my family has grown quite a bit. I've always considered church home, and the people I see there and serve with family; the real blessing is I've accumulated such an amazing family over the past 4 years, and it's been getting better and better. I genuinely love the people I get to do life with in this current season of mine, and for however long God sees fit for me to be here I will enjoy every moment of it. - One of those areas is Elevate youth; looking back at the journey of literally jumping into this youth group as the "keyboard guy" to now where I am helping lead worship every Wednesday night, it's been incredible to see how God's had all this set up from years past. I know he sent me halfway around the world for three years so that I could be here, strategically placed to pursue my calling and to play my part in making this youth group move forward. The most rewarding part is getting to be with these amazing students every week; it is legitimately the highlight of my week. Not to mention the band I serve with has become a true family; I'm blessed to be around such passionate people that look out for each other, and the relationships we've built are the kind I believe will last a lifetime. - Unemployed like a pro. Been looking for work almost a year now, but there hasn't been much progress; I know it'll happen on God's time, so despite the lack of success I keep my head high knowing it's on it's way. I recently joined a career services program, in the hopes that I can practically get on the right track. I have no idea what kind of job I want, but as long as I don't have to flip burgers at the local Macca's I will be grateful. - Some friends know about my graphic design ventures on Instagram; I started out doing it for fun, but now it's become like a legit thing I do. I've even got some work opportunities out of it! It's very much a hobby still, but who know maybe I could make it a sort of business one day? That sums up my life now, but I would love to hear what you're up to, so let's Facebook, Skype, email, whatever we can do to make this happen!