Reflections from Connie

From the start of my journaling, God started speaking to me about how He humbles and tests us - in order to know our hearts and whether or not we will obey His commands, and so that in the end it might go well for us.

(Deut. 8-9): It has always been my desire to know God's heart, but He wants to know my heart through humbling and testing me. This is not usually pleasant , but that is how He finds out what is in the depths of my sinful heart. Deut. 10 talks about circumcising the heart, which is the cutting away of all the things that do not bring honour and glory to Him. This continues to be a daily battle, but I want my heart to be more like His. As the heart is circumcised, there are 5 things the Lord asks of us: to fear Him, to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve Him with all your heart and soul, and to observe His commands and decrees. I want to fear Him by being more in awe of Him- seeing Him in His rightful place (Hebrews 12:28). I want to be obedient to Him, and to moment by moment walk through life in obedience to Him (Deut. 30:14). I want to love and serve Him with my all (Colossians 3:17), and to follow His commands, especially to love God and others.

Just before heading out on the walking part of the pilgrimage, God started showing me the importance of Scripture memorisation and meditation. These are two spiritual disciplines that have not seemed quite so vital in my life for some reason. "Keep the Word always on your lips and meditate on it day and night" (Joshua 1:8). Also, before and during the pilgrimage, God seemed to be telling me to call to Him, seek Him, keep my eyes on Him - because He would tell me great and unsearchable things I didn't know, and would make known to me the path of life, fill me with joy in His presence, and with eternal pleasures. (Jeremiah 33:3, Ps. 16)  I believe these are things to continue throughout my life. He gives me such joy in His presence! And related to both of these is to stand firm on His Word and be ready to go and share God's love with others (Ephesians 6:14-15), staying focused on Jesus who also has "gone into the world" (Hebrews 12:2). And to always remember that "the Lord is with me and He will take great delight in me. He will rejoice over me with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17). How He loves me!