Maybe these thoughts are not too far off from the ones that I have recently been sharing, and I’m sorry if I get a little redundant. I think (actually, I know) that the Lord usually has to tell me the same thing several times before I really get it. I’m a slow learner and I’m trying real to hard to change that and listen intently the first time He speaks, but it’s a process.

Two summers ago when I was reading through the Bible I stumbled upon a verse I had not yet read. And if I had read it I somehow must have had a lapse in thinking because it seemed new. Anyways, this verse literally brought tears to my eyes, as it often still does. It talks beautifully of the power of God’s word.

Jeremiah was in the midst of serious persecutions and was being rebuked by the people who God has sent Him to. In fact, in chapter one of this book Yahweh tells Jeremiah that no one is going to listen to him, but that he should keep preaching anyways. Not the best job description if you ask me… But faithful Jeremiah went anyways. At the time he wrote this verse he was basically questioning whether or not it was worth the trouble, worth the hatred that he was receiving. He was complaining to the Lord about the trouble he was facing, then this is what he says,

“But if I say, ‘I will not mention Him or speak anymore in His name,’ His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”

Woah. Friends, I don’t always feel that way about Yahweh’s words. More often than not I am all too content keeping my little mouth shut tight as I pass people daily who are likely going to die and spend eternity apart from my precious Savior. Is there a fire there??

At the beach today I was walking out of the water and I met eyes with a woman who smiled at me. My very first thought was, “She needs Jesus. You have Jesus. Share!” As I walked past her she asked about a jelly fish in the sand and that led us into a 30 minute conversation about life and religion. Samantha and I just listened as she told us of the places she has been and the ways that she has been hurt. She was so open and so longing to just talk to someone. We got to share with her the truth of the gospel and the simplicity that’s found in just believing in Jesus. He is life.

His word is a fire in my bones that I often quench. Today, I let some out, but I have a long way to go and a lot to learn.