Sow for yourselves righteousness,
       reap the fruit of unfailing love,
       and break up your unplowed ground;
       for it is time to seek the LORD,
       until he comes
       and showers righteousness on you.  ~hosea 10:12

I know I ended my last post with this verse, but I just love it. I feel like it’s my theme verse this year. Cody and I have been going to this class called “Living Discipleship” on Monday nights at my parents’ church. It’s taught by a pastor who has written numerous books on the Old Testament and is incredibly sharp…not to mention hilarious. We have really enjoyed the class because it is steeped in scripture about things we’ve talked about in church for ages but never really dissected. We stayed after to talk to the pastor for a bit and are really looking forward to the rest of the classes. He digs through the bible to address some really important issues…salvation, evil, suffering, baptism, sin, etc…which aren’t as simple as we sometimes think.

Growing up in church makes it difficult sometimes, I feel, to have a really authentic faith. I’m the kind of person that believes most of what people say to me (as I’ve gotten older, I’ve definitely become more questioning). So it’s been really refreshing to get a new spin on some of these verses I’ve heard literally hundreds of times in my life. It was getting to the point where it was hard to let them sink in  because it’s like, yeah yeah yeah, I’ve heard that before…but HOW do trust God more? Love God more? Be more pure-hearted? Understand suffering when God is supposed to be loving? How does all of it make sense?

This is why I hold this verse close. I have lots of unplowed ground, so to speak, that needs to be dug up and replowed. Ground that has been stale and unmoving since I was young. I’ve been so caught up in how I’m doing, if I’m doing enough, what I’m doing…It’s time to seek God for God’s sake and not for my sake.

“I am learning that I am defined by the Gospel and not what I do for the Gospel.”  -Samantha L. Barton