Abiding

Today as I was listening to worship music (via ipod) on the bus home, a thought popped into my head, "God makes my life more exciting, more challenging, more authentic and full of adventure- but thats not why I love Him." That thought caught me by surprise, and made me reflect on why I truly love God.  Why do I love God?
I love God because He sees all of me, all of the dirty and awful things I have done and thought, the desires of my heart and my struggles, and He still loves me. Not only that, but He is redeeming my life and using my life to glorify Him, even though I constantly run astray and fall into temptation. Even when I mess up, God is right there waiting to redeem the situation, and put me back on the path that He has for my life. Not only that, but He invites me to experience intimacy with HIm, to truly know His heart and to walk in His spirit. And, most significantly, He enabled all of this to be possible through Christ dying for me, for us- that we might live IN Him!

If there is anything I have been thinking about lately...it is, what does it mean to abide in Christ?
What does it mean to walk in the Holy Spirit? I don't really have answers for these questions, I just know they are important.

Abiding in Christ... I pray that God will show me the way of abiding and living in, through, and for Him.

Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. - John 15:4