All I Need

Life is so hard sometimes. You try to always do the right thing and try to always follow the Lord's leading in your life, only to have it be really hard. It's hard knowing you did the right thing and that you did what was best when other people question that and when they question your motives. It's hard when you feel like everyone is judging you for your decisions. It's also hard when the people you think will be there for you, aren't. You don't want to feel betrayed by certain actions, but you do. There's no avoiding it. And then you have to act like everything is fine because you know you're just being selfish anyway and not putting others first. When times like this come, it's easy to feel alone and jaded. It's so easy to be hurt by the small things that normally wouldn't bother you. It's so easy to think that you have no one who's really got your back. It's easy to become bitter and develop "trust issues". When this sort of thing happens, you just want to get away from all of it. You feel like really, there's only Jesus you can cling to. You only have Him to comfort you in your time of pain. I know I'm guilty of seeing it that way. But this is where your thinking is wrong.

There's no such thing as having "only Jesus". He really and truly is ALL we need.
-"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." -Hebrews 4:15
He's been there. Jesus Christ felt the same way - He was truly betrayed, yet He didn't sin.

-"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." -II Corinthians 1:3-4

Who knows why God puts certain trials in our lives? Maybe it's so we can relate to others who are hurting.

-"Destitute, despised, forsaken/Thou from hence my all shall be/Perish every fond ambition/All I've sought, or hoped, or known/Yet how rich is my condition/God and heaven are still my own."
"Let the world despise and leave me/They have left my Savior too/Human hearts and looks deceive me/Thou art not like them untrue."
"In Thy service pain is pleasure/With Thy favor loss is gain"
"Man may trouble and distress me/'Twill but drive me to Thy breast/Life with trials hard may press me/Heaven will bring me sweeter rest"
[all from "Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken" by Henry Francis Lyte]

-"He's all that my hungering spirit needs/I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead"
[from I'd Rather Have Jesus by Rhea F. Miller]

-"Hallelujah! All I have is Christ/Hallelujah! Jesus is my life"
[from All I Have is Christ by Jordan Kauflin]

-"When I fall down You pick me up/When I am dry You fill my cup/You are my all in all"
[from All in All by Dennis Jernigan]

-"You are all I need when I'm surrounded/You are all I need if I'm by myself/You fill me when I'm empty/There is no one else/You're all I need"
[from All I Need by Bethany Dillion]

-"Faith endures the disappointment, the hardships, and the heartaches of life by recognizing that all comes from the hand of Him who is too wise to err and too loving to be unkind. So long as we are occupied with any other object than God Himself, there will be neither rest for the heart, nor peace for the mind."
A.W. Pink

This is where the rubber meets the road. Do I really believe that He is all I need? It's often easy to say those words, and I've grown up singing "All in All", but do I really mean it? This is a key time in my life where I need to remember not to listen to myself but to talk to myself. I can't listen to my doubts, my insecurities, and the lies that are so easy to tell myself ("you really have no one", "no one has your back", "you just can't trust people these days", etc). I must remind myself of truth- I do have people that are here for me no matter what, and even if I didn't, I don't need them - I have Christ, who really is the only One I need. I just need to cling to Christ and remember that this world is not my home. God loves me so much, and I know He will never leave me or forsake me. He is all I need.