Back to the beginning.

"You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will hve no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgement, whoever he is....For you, breathern, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

Galatians 5:7-11;13 NKJV

How quickly we become distracted by the world when we first become "free" from the confines of our families. For me, this past year was filled with rebellion and learning hard lessons. I was alone away from the safety net of my parents love, the wisdom and strength of my spiritual father, the love and care of my spiritual mother and the peace found in my home church. I'm so sorry to admit that. I prided myself in the knowledge that I was one of the few "strong" Christians in my school, that I knew the Bible better than a teacher, and that I led a life fitting for a Christian girl. Oh what a silly naive girl I was. I look on the past year and am filled with sickness. How could I have become the person am I now? Why did I let myself become this? "Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Yet, God is calling me back to my roots, to the beginning, to the place where it all started. Just as with Abraham in Genesis 12 and 13 "and he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abraham called on the name of the Lord." Sometimes in order to move forward we must first return to our beginnings. Sometimes in order to move on we must first remember where it all started. Oh how many altars throughout my life have I forgotten? My journey of faith is marked by the moments when God showed Himself to me. The moment when I asked Him into my heart. The moment I was prophesied over. The moment I realized my fear was gone. The moment I realized that if I am in Christ I am a new creation, no longer bound by the old man, but made new through the love of Christ. So many forgotten moments. Let's go back to the beginning. Back to our first Love. Back to the moment of realization. Back to the altars in our lives.