"Your love sustaining me, before I even knew what love was"

These are the lyrics of a worship song that so sweetly captures what the beginning of my adventure of following Jesus started out like. This truth knocked the breath beneath me back then and it wrecks me still to this day.

As a 14-year-old teenage girl, all I wanted in life was to know that I was fully loved and secure. And when I fully let Jesus take ownership of my heart, that's when He began to mend the most broken parts of me. Just like how the owner of a house likes to repair broken things, our Father in heaven loves to repair us. He LIVES to repair our brokenness. And what brings Him no greater joy is when he sees us live our lives with our new names- our newly repaired identities.

Following Jesus. Does this mean you literally walk in some direction? Or follow a group of people even?

What does this even mean??- you might be asking yourself.

It means you come to Him with everything that you are- no facades. All of your doubts, all of your questions, everything. You just fall at His feet. He will make you feel more known and loved than you've ever felt before by anyone else- and that is pretty worth following. It means you allow yourself to step into some uncharted waters- but the waves will never consume you.

Following Jesus means you live your life loving others with the same love that Jesus loved others- with grace and intentionality. It means you walk through life with a community that will serve you, love you, and point you ultimately towards Jesus. And a community like that is one that is practically heaven on earth.

"Why is it worth it Christina? I don't even get your point still. My life is fine just the way that it is"

Let me tell you. It's worth it because even when life is going well, you aren't 100% completely satisfied, because that's not where your heart's destination is, but when you give your life to Jesus? When you let yourself be completely and fully loved and known by Him? the longing of home, security, peace, joy, and SO much more begins to get filled by the love of Jesus. Bit by bit, piece by piece, He begins to place you together into the nook of His heart. And nothing will ever feel more at home and more at peace than when you're resting in the arms of Jesus- I promise.

Yes, your life may seem just fine right now, but what if I told you there was more? What If I told you there was a joy that NEVER ended-even when storms hit. What if I told you that you would NEVER go another day feeling invisible because the God of the ages SEES you? And what If I told you that if you made the decision to know this Jesus, you would never seek to fill the empty places of your heart that you know so well ever again? What if?

Friends, take the what ifs and turn them into right now's. Your place at the table has always been reserved for you, it's never been taken down because there's been too long of a wait, and it never becomes a burden. It's still there, HE's still there. Waiting for His lost child to find their way back home.

Nothing will make you feel more known than when you begin to understand that the same God who created the mountains, who created the spacious oceans, who placed each individual star in the sky, who created sweet puppies and breathtaking flowers, is the same God that sees you and knows you better than anyone else on this earth