If we are not hungry for the Lord, chances are our appetite has been filled by the world. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6).

Are you in the midst of a storm right now? If so, don't give up in the storm, rather give way to the Lord. You see, the storm does us a favor when it blows us into the arms of the Savior. However, most of the time, we don’t see storms as something to count as joy, because we count them as an inconvenience--something that has invaded our comfort. Yet that is exactly why suffering and storms come—to move us from being comfortable in the world to being conformable to the Lord. Therefore, "count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1:2-4).

God could have saved us from a distance, but instead He came down to us with His presence. Why? Because He loved us and He proved that love when He gave us Jesus. He truly felt us before He fixed us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).