30 Day Journey, Days 8-11

I tell you what, I cannot believe it's been four days since my last post! Last week was busy! Besides having to run lots of errands, I also spent 2 1/2 days cleaning up my backyard. I feel so empowered, because I used the leaf blower all on my own! :)

I was more consistent this past week with getting up early in the morning and spending time with the Lord before I did anything else. What a huge difference that made in my day! Just that sweet time spent prepared me to be more patient, to see God's hand at work and readily praise Him and reminded me to pray more frequently throughout the day. I have noticed on days I spend with the Lord, I am more prone to stop and pray with Zooey (or by myself) when it seems like a situation is getting frustrating or my anger is rising up in me. It truly makes a difference. Moms (& Dads) - if you are having a hard day with your little ones, I'd really encourage you to do this. Of course, the principle applies to any relationship, really, but I've noticed that after praying with Zooey she often (in fact, 9/10 times) becomes calmer and is more apt to obey. God is amazing! Little miracles...

As I sat down to my study (No Other Gods, by Kelly Minter), I really identified with something she said about the experience of Christianity. She said if she could change anything about her early Christian experience, she "would switch the percentage of time (I'm guessing about 90%) spent on focusing on all the 'bad' things in my life that weren't supposed to be there with the 10% spent focusing on Christ. I fear we have this terribly backward. We spend too much time trying to rid ourselves of rebellion, lust, jealousy, materialism, drug addictions, and whatever other idols rule our lives, while spending this minuscule amount of time on knowing the One True God."

I have such a guilt complex that I totally relate to this. I know in my heart of hearts that Jesus died to set me free from guilt. I know that guilt is from Satan. God has worked mightily in my life in the last four years about guilt. Praise God! However, there are those moments when I just royally screw up before His throne, I go against His Word, and I am overwhelmed with guilt sometimes to the point that it consumes my every thought and emotion. Have you ever been there? The opposite should be true. We should consume our every thought with God's grace and Jesus' amazing character. Will we become perfect when we do this? No! Of course not; we're human. BUT - when we truly open our eyes and our hearts to all that Jesus has done to cover our multitude of sins, it gives us a heart that longs to please Him with our whole self, so the sin stuff starts to fade away and we start to live out our faith. James 4:7-9 says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." When we see our sin for the ugliness that it is, the Spirit causes us to yearn for God and to worship Him with our lives in ways that are impossible on our own.

In Isaiah 55:1-9, God called the Israelites (and us) to "come" 3 times, "listen"/"hear"/"give ear" 4 times and to "eat" 2 times. We're also called to "delight," "seek," "see," "call" and "turn." You're probably reading this and going, "So?" All of this comes back to what God's heart for us, found in verse 2: "...and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." Why settle for the measly temporary pleasure that sin provides, when God promises to delight us, to satisfy us, with His rich blessing?

Will you come to the Lord, eat of His good Word, give ear and listen to what He has to say, see Jesus for the King He is, seek the Lord while He may still be found and "call on Him when He is near?" I think if you do, you'll be awestruck by the way He satiates your soul with His love. This, my friends, is the key to being able to live a pure and holy life.