Exploring the struggles & joys of following God

Isaiah isn’t just a story about Israel — it’s the story of God’s promise to all humanity. As Israel continually looks to nations, kings and idols for their security, God never gives up on them.

September is staring me down as I near the end of my twenties. I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so the close of a decade feels significant. The last 10 years have been full of growth, struggle, redemption, and joy — and along the way, I’ve learned some lessons worth remembering. Here are 20 truths my twenties have taught me.

We only see a small glimpse into the never-ending cascades of God’s joy when we have a shallow relationship with God. The more we experience Him, the more we will find joy.

Peter shows us that even when we don’t know what God is doing, we can trust that He is good and find our hope in Him.

God’s love is always overflowing onto others. When we are able to receive His love we’re able to share it with others as He has done with us.

Our response to God’s grace over our sin reveals who we believe Him to be in our lives. To the extent we believe He is good we will be able to see how our sin has grieved Him and whether or not we can move closer towards Him.

What we fear exposes who we ultimately put our trust in and love the most. Fearing God is what will lead us to fullness in life with Him.

Without love, our obedience to God is just good deeds. As Judas, our lawful obedience doesn’t bear fruit unless born out of love for God.

Because Judas wasn’t serving for God’s glory but for his own, the reason for his service was distorted. He was doing all the Christianly things, but his true loves and who he was doing it for were leaking out.

Judas demonstrated that being convicted of sin doesn’t make you a Christian. It’s your response that shows what’s inside your heart. If your conviction doesn’t lead to repentance, it leads you back to sin.