"It's complicated"

lets just talk about Facebook for a moment. 

we got your "single" people

your "in a relationship" people

your "engaged" people

your "married" people

and, of course, my personal favorite "it's complicated"

meaning, in other less fragilely put words, that neither one of you are on the same page as to the status of your relationship.   

Let's look at it this way. Lets say, you have a girlfriend, actually, better yet, a wife. Ok fellas, you're married. You made a vow to forever love this woman you share a roof with. You made a vow to spend the rest of your life with her. Now, lets say, you forget to talk to her one day. 

Lets say, you got so busy you just simply didn't speak to her once. 

Lets say this happens again, 

and again, 

and again. 

Lets say this goes on for months maybe a year.

Thats outrageous, you think.

I would never forget to talk to someone I love so much, you think 

I would never forget to talk to someone I made such a commitment to, you think

Then how do we forget to talk to God?

How do we get too busy to spend a mere ten minutes with him?

I hear a lot of people say that seasons of dryness are nothing to worry about in our relationship with God

But, someone reminded me that it is never God who gets distant or further away...we are the ones who drift and falter.

God is always constant.

But let me get back to my point

a little while back I began to notice a difference in my mood. I was cranky, irritable, impatient, and unhappy. 

I began to be cynical. I would look at a situation and think of the worst outcome. 

I noticed a change in my motivation. I wanted to sleep all the time. I didn't want to be around others. 

I would complain that my relationship with God wasn't as vibrant. Not as close. Not as intimate.

God wasn't the one who had walked away.

I had.

I hadn't been reading my bible. I wasn't praying. and the longer I didn't pray, the more I put it off because I didn't know where to start. I didn't want to deal with the regret and emotions that come with praying after not praying for long periods of time. 

I didn't read my bible because I was stressed out about school. Time in my bible is less time I could be studying. 

But then I would waste hours doing other stuff. 

I was trying to do everything on my own. The more I relied on my own strength, the more I failed. The more I failed the more I didn't spend time with God. The less time I spent with God the more I relied on my own strength. The more I relied on my own strength...

you see the patten. 

I didn't feel like I was good enough to go before the Lord. I began to think that God was disappointed in me for not spending time with him. That he was mad at me. Sad with me.

Lets go back to that hypothetical wife. you are still married to her even if you don't talk to her. the relationship, however, is non-existent. 

Its the same way with God. 

I am still a Christian even if I fall away. My relationship with God, however, varies with how much effort I put into it.

It required me giving up my pride and coming before the Lord and asking for his forgiveness. It required me admitting my priorities were messed up. It required me asking him to help me crave time with him more than I crave anything. 

We do not have to suffer through dryness. 

It doesn't matter how long you have gone without praying. It doesn't matter if you don't know the bible chapters in order. It doesn't matter if you are dirty and stained and flawed.

WE

ALL

ARE

Christ is waiting for you to surrender. To run to him with your arms wide. 

Its not going to be easy. Just like with any relationship, it takes effort. It takes time. It takes intentionality. 

But Christ is the only one who can heal your heart. He is the only one who can make things right. He is the only one who can bring you joy. Who can bring you true fulfillment.

If that sounds cliche, I'm sorry.

Sucks to your asthma 

Its not just a one and done thing with Christ. We cannot just profess our faith in Christ and consider ourselves good for the rest of our lives.

Just like we don't get married with someone and then never talk to them again.

We must constantly be growing in our faith. And we grow by reading God's word to hear what he is teaching us. We grow by praying to him. 

It doesn't have to be complicated.

It can be very very simple. and very very wonderful.

2 Peter 1:5-8New International Version (NIV)

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.