“Holy in the Moment” (A book review)

Do you consider yourself to be holy? If you are a Christian, Scripture tells us that you are holy.

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (1 Cor 3:16-17)

But do you actually consider yourself to be holy?

I have written a few times lately about my desire to love Jesus more, my only goal for 2018. I desperately want more of Him. I want to feel His presence with me in the mundane. I want to go to Him first when I feel fearful or despondent. I want to praise Him first when something amazing happens.

But it’s often difficult to feel holy in the everyday moments of life, isn’t it?

In her book, Holy in the Moment, Ginger Harrington writes, “Holiness comes when we make room for God in our busy lives, offering our hearts just as they are, not as we wish they are.”

I don’t know about you, but this resonates clearly with me.

Oh, how I strive to be good! I want my heart to be “right,” my attitude to be positive, and my mind to stay focused on Jesus. But oftentimes I feel as if I can’t go before the Lord until all of those things are in place.

Maybe you feel like Ginger does, where so much of your energy “is spent trying to get it all together in some perfectly performing package of worthiness.”

This is me. I struggle with this very issue. I want my life to look put together. I want others to think I am worthy. Sure of myself. But if you have read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I don’t always have it together. Not even close. And that’s okay. 

I am currently writing from a hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale. Alone. Without my family.

It feels strange to be away from my littles who constantly need me. And I miss my teen who still enjoys hanging out with her not-so-cool-anymore mom. I’m usually the one staying behind as my husband travels, not the other way around, and I feel a little guilty, taking this time away for myself.

But then the sun streams through the window, and the room fills with the ambient noise of the air conditioner. And for once, my mind is not drifting to breakfast preparations or laundry or work-related issues. I am able to listen as Jesus speaks over me. What will He say today? What truth will prick my heart?

As I seek to obey the Lord in a particular situation, I read again in Ginger’s book that “obedience is your moment of truth. What you do will… reveal what you believe about God…”

I say that I trust Him, but is it true? Will I obey Him? Or am I only giving lip-service to the idea of trust?

So many thoughts are running through my brain right now. Thoughts that are chaotic and don’t mesh together.

But I know the Truth. The truth that God loves me for who I am. The truth that He is enough in the stresses of life. The truth that He wants to speak into my life. The truth that I am holy because He makes me holy.

What does Jesus want to speak into your life today?

 

Ginger’s honesty pours off the pages of her new book, Holy in the Moment. She speaks openly about her struggles in motherhood, her difficulties with anxiety, and the fears she encountered with cross-country moves while her husband was in the military. But she also writes about the joy she has experienced when she allowed the Lord to lead and guide her through some wearisome circumstances.

For more encouragement and practical applications, check out Ginger’s blog and her book, Holy in the Moment, which releases tomorrow, March 6.