Volunteering for an exam is not a common habit most people practice. But examining ourselves regarding where we are with God is a high priority. Self reflection, atusg, deep prayer, and forming deep relationships seem to be a part of our examination. We may discover more than we expect, especially a deeper sense of meaning and purpose for our lives. Developing peace, joy, and patience will be deeper character qualities that take root, reducing fear and anxiety. It can be scary to pray "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!"
Praying:
Father, You know me because You created me. You examine my heart because You love me and want me to know what is going on inside me. Change me, purify me, that I will honor You. I choose by faith to trust that what You reveal to me about my heart is not to condemn me but to work Your plan of sanctification in my life. You want me to become more like You from the inside out. Please reveal to me my heart so that I can change and heal. Amen.
“In the Psalms, the life of faith isn’t idyllic, pretty, or easy. It is a walk with God marked by anguish, dread, and grief. The Psalms picture a life where prayers seem to go unanswered, where God seems distant, and where evil seems to be winning. The Psalms welcome us to a faith where God’s agenda is more important than ours and where we are asked to live out our faith in the context of a disastrously broken world. But this is also precisely where we experience the highest personal joys, as we put our hope in the covenant love of the Lord and make the pursuit of his glory the goal of our lives.” - Paul David Tripp, A Quest for More: Living for Something Bigger than You
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