At WSU again...

Well, for those of you that didn't know, I was home for the Labor Day weekend. It was amazing coming home to my family, my home, my nice long showers. (I didn't actually come home to my bed because my sister took the one I had upstairs and I'm still allowed to sleep in the one I have downstairs because there are no curtains. So, I slept in Loveleen's bed which just wasn't quite the same.) I really enjoyed being able to see friends including the volleyball ladies, many teachers who are so very dear to my heart, and various others. It was really sweet being able to go to Grace for church on Sunday. The entire weekend was refreshing. I do wish that I could have met up with more friends, especially those that I graduated with but I'm sure that I will see them when I come for Thanksgiving. I also wish that I hadn't had so much homework to do when I was home but it's all good.
In my personal devotions, I have been going through Genesis. I have recently reached the story of Isaac's son, Jacob. I was so confused in reading this portion of Scripture as to why God chose Jacob for His blessings. I was further confused as Jacob continued to do things that were deceitful, sinful. God pored blessing after blessing on Jacob yet Jacob continued to view the Lord just as the God of his father. Later on Jacob would accept God as his own God and would serve Him wholeheartedly.
I was ruminating Jacob's story earlier and made a profound realization; I am just like Jacob. For years and years I had God's blessings over me and I refused to even recognize Him. And when I did acknowledge Him, it was not as my Lord but as the God of my teachers and schoolmates, as the God of Christians. I excelled in many areas and was blessed profoundly, far more than I ever ought to have, being the sinner that I am. I never truly gave the glory for those things to God, much less acccepted Him as my God. Yet, for reasons unknown, God had singled me out for the greatest blessing He has ever given man; the free gift of salvation. I was and am by no means deserving of this gift. I hourly fall short of the standard by which I might "earn" this salvation on my own. In fact, I was disqualified from the moment of conception and have been disqualifiying myself ever since. In spite of my shortcomings and my lifelong rebellion, Christ saved me. He wrapped me in His love and in a whirlwind of grace, took me from the road leading to destruction and placed me on the path leading to Him (and in Him, eternal bliss). It is beyond my understanding why He would be so kind to one so fallen.
In so many ways, every Christian was just like Jacob, seeking blessings without acknowledging the One from whom all blessings come. And there are still so many Jacobs out there. We do not know who they are, whether they are across the world or down the hall (or both). But we do know that the same gracious God who saved us does know. And He is faithful. I am really challenged to pray for those people around me who are not saved (and being at a secular university there are many) but for all I know could be Jacobs just ready to become Israels. Please pray that I would be faithful to share Christ both by my words and by my actions. And that I really would be faithful to pray for people, especially for the other ladies on my floor and in my building. I want to be an instrument through which God can bring them to Himself. I want them to wonder at His level at a personal level just as I am. And through all of it, I want the glory to go to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.