Note from Team LO: We are SO excited to bring you this month’s post from our LO sister member + ambassador, Darcy Clark! If you want to be a part of this incredible community, you can join today! Find out more about this online sisterhood HERE. And for more info about what LO sister is all about, visit our Instagram Page!

Now, enjoy today’s post from Darcy 🙂 

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Jesus is after our heart’s affection, not our religious acts.

This past week it weighed heavy on me how so many of us fall into this mindset that if the bible is not the first thing our eyes see in the morning or what our mind spends time with it’s a bad day, or even the extremities of how our minds wonder to placing us on this scale that doesn’t even exist deeming us a “bad christian” because we missed one day or a week in His word.

There is no score keeping, leadership board for the religious acts you do or the culture of christianity you play apart in. What matters is your heart.

The enemy wants to convince you are a “bad christian”, isolate you, and keep you in this nest of swarming thoughts about not being good enough.

..Okay now that we know what the enemy tries to do can you accept the grace from Jesus you have full access to and remind yourself you are apart of the winning team, the team that already won, and release whatever lie about yourself you are hanging on to.

The reality is you are going to get tired, you are going to hit an off week, your heart and soul are going to get tired — faith is not easy!

Spiritual disciplines like bible reading, quiet times, praying are a few of the best ways I know to grow in my relationship with my Heavenly Father —— but seriously what good is it to beat myself up every time I fall short of putting these things into practice.

There is a difference between guilt and conviction. guilt and shame for falling short are not from God, His arms are wide open ready to embrace you and wanting you to keep on. Conviction is that check engine light feeling, keeping us in lockstep with Jesus and away from things that destroy us by the Holy Spirit within us.

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” Romans 8:11

The SAME Spirit of God, lives in YOU. Lean on God always, in your strongest seasons and your weakest seasons.

Keep on. Shake up the routine when you grow numb to it. Read a verse a day — start somewhere.

When we feel that our religious acts have outweighed our affections for Jesus — reevaluate. Let that be your check engine light!

You are loved by God. You have access to a relationship with Him that isn’t rigid.

Please don’t wear the weight of having to be perfect inside of your relationship with your Maker, it will exhaust you.

Darcy Clark is a member of Team LO! She is a Jesus follower and friend to many. She enjoys coffee sipping, exploring, and writing. She is an aspiring author, current dreamer. Darcy attended Texas A&M University and has since moved to Louisiana to be a part of Team LO.