Young pup.

Recently, someone referred to me as "just a young pup." This got my wheels turning. Why is it that I don't feel young? In the spectrum of things, I know that I am--but it's as though life has sent me on a roller coaster of hurts and has dropped me on a corner of a street jaded. Life's experiences have caused me to build walls and protect myself. I'm not as uninhibited as I once was and I so desperately long for the mystery and wonder that is seen through the eyes of a child again. With that faith that will tell you to jump even when every bone in your body is afraid to. I believe that God is doing a restorative work in me as I type. The Lord has blessed me with a gift of hope. I have a lot of it--maybe more than my own good. :) Through the trials, I still trust. I still believe. Call me crazy. He's just proven to me in the past of his faithfulness. He has never caused me to think differently.

I wanted to share a devo I was reading this morning. Goes along nicely with that I had been discussing with some close friends. Why is it that when we are younger we develop these dreams and aspirations, but as we get older and get a more "realistic" perspective we think that we aren't able to accomplish them? Not just because we don't have those dreams anymore. Perhaps it is because we have a better understanding of the poverty and brokenness of who we are as humans. We begin to lose sight of the child-like faith because of hurts or fears we have experienced over time. I pray that this doesn't happen. I pray that the we would hold to the outlook that we have a BIG God and He can do anything we wants to through us. :) It reminds me of the verse, 1 Timothy 4:12:

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

Here is a snippet:
We all have many dreams and aspirations when we are young, but sooner or later we realize we have no power to accomplish them. We cannot do the things we long to do, so our tendency is to think of our dreams and aspirations as dead. But God comes and says to us, "Arise from the dead . . . ." When God sends His inspiration, it comes to us with such miraculous power that we are able to "arise from the dead" and do the impossible. The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and power comes after we "get up and get going." God does not give us overcoming life— He gives us life as weovercome. When the inspiration of God comes, and He says, "Arise from the dead . . . ," we have to get ourselves up; God will not lift us up. Our Lord said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch out your hand" (Matthew 12:13 ). As soon as the man did so, his hand was healed. But he had to take the initiative. If we will take the initiative to overcome, we will find that we have the inspiration of God, because He immediately gives us the power of life.
Sited: http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php