I started the day off last night with a feeble prayer that God would wake me up before the boys so I could have some time to read and pray. Do you know what God did? He had my alarm on a watch I had no idea was even set go off about 6:20, not just once, but twice..be careful what you ask for! (Kids didn’t get up till after 7am.)
I’ve started 2 posts today, 1 is almost finished; the other somewhere in between. One will have to be shared at a much later date, the other hopefully by the end of the week…but God has stopped me from writing any further today. Well, actually no, He stopped me from writing to y’all…but I was still writing a message God wanted me to hear just for myself. It was sweet, and like nothing I can say I have ever quite received from God…or maybe I have just never allowed myself to receive from him like I did today.
Any who…back to my point about being stopped in my tracks…which reminds me of Paul – remember him…the guy formally named Saul from Tarsus? Quick back story on Paul: While still named Saul, he would go around “breathing out murderous threats” to all the Christians…mostly Jews who had realized Christ was God in the flesh and had decided to follow him. But Jesus met Saul on a road, blinded him and then told him to wait for his sight to return to him until he heard from God. From then on Paul traveled the ancient world, forsaking everything else this world had to offer him to spread the Good News about Jesus coming to die for them and set them free from the yucky stuff they held in their hearts. Paul was trying to go a certain way with his journey in spreading this Good News, yet, “When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of the Jesus would not allow them to.” God had other plans for them…and He must have other plans for me and perhaps for you today. There must be something else one of you needs to hear in the random thoughts I will share below. Happy reading!
* Listening to a musician talk about his visit to Wales and how they have these HUGE cathedrals they built 50-60 years ago to seat hundreds but now only 30-40 come on a Sunday…he mentioned something a pastor said to him, “Remember this because your church (in America) is just one generation away from this.” Ouch…if you are a believer and follower of Christ – what are you doing to share with the next generation??? What am I doing? Can I, can you do more?
* I seem to always have Pandora on at home anymore…helps me stay focused on the good things. My current station I bet you can guess: How He Loves radio. Every once in a while lyrics will catch me and I’ve been trying to write them down for use later…but a couple I had to share: “Rejoice in this Divine Romance” Divine Romance by Phil Wickham; and “I’ve tasted a love so deep it blows my mind,” Simply Nothing by Shawn McDonald. Have you ever been in love like this?
* At church right now we are reading thru the Psalms…and I am trying desperately to keep up, but not really stressed that I am not because I am just having too much fun spending time where I want to. There are 150 Psalms and we are to read thru all of them in a month…which doesn’t sound so hard until you start reading and understand the depth of emotions, of fears and anxieties, of joy and elation – and of everything in between and get blown away by the fact these were written way over 2000 years ago. Times might have changed, but people are still people and we still have the same internal struggles and the same emotions around those struggles that they have always had. Needless-to-say, I am loving this expedition thru the Psalms, which is greatly improving my prayer life as well…every few versus in some places I keep writing, “add to prayer life”… Here is one that really sticks out to me, especially after speaking with a friend and getting a glimpse of a struggle in this persons life:
