Afflictions Eclipsed By Glory

He is jealous for me

Loves like a hurricane

I am a tree

Bending beneath

The weight of His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden

I am unaware of these

Afflictions eclipsed by Glory

And I realize how beautiful You are

And how great Your afflictions for me

I've had this song playing in my head all week...driving to school, working out, lying in bed...I feel like I'm at such a critical point in my life right now, where the Lord is drawing me to Himself with such an intensity, requiring me to abandon, literally cast aside, myself in the light of His all-surpassing greatness (Philippian 3:7-11). What an incredible image...our afflictions, eclipsed by His glory. It's like waking up and seeing the most beautiful sunrise ever, and multiplying that by a million. A glory too terrifying to behold, too bright for our human eyes to gaze upon, too perfect to grasp. A Glory that was nailed to a cross, mocked and broken, all so that I could have a relationship with the Father.

Wow.

Suddenly all of my life plans, or lack thereof--my worries about whether or not I'll have a job after I graduate, if I'll ever get married, WHO I'm going to marry, what I'll be doing ten years from now, God-I'm-so-tired-of-where-You-have-me-in-life-right-now-can-I-please-just-run-away-to-Belize-and-start-an-orphanage-there? prayers--seem so incredibly silly when I think about the magnitude of this love that Christ has for me. So Lord, I thank You for EXACTLY where You have me right now. For each and every trial that drives me to my knees and brings me closer to You. For every heartbreak that reminds me that this is not my home, not my final destination. For Your blood that was shed, for the Life I now have in You. May my life be eclipsed by Your glory, so that You are all that can be seen when others look at my life.