Quality Time

James 4:8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…”

My thirteen year old son Derek and I had a “date” last weekend. We had dinner at a local burger joint and laughed and talked about school, his friends, church, baseball etc., and then we went to see a 3D movie. I had not seen a 3D movie since 1980 something (remember the cheap red and blue cellophane glasses?) so my son took great pleasure in watching my reaction to the new and oh-so-much-cooler world of 3D. We had the best time, and I realized how much I have missed just hanging out with him, and how much I treasure our time together. We used to go on “dates” all the time when he was younger, but as he has gotten older and busier, they have become more scarce. Now that he is a teenager he has friends, sports, band, video games, Facebook, etc. that keep him busy and monopolize his time. Dates with Mom have fallen to the bottom of the priority list, and I really miss that time with him.

This got me thinking that God probably feels the same way about the time we spend with Him. He loves us more than we could ever imagine, even more than we love our  kids. He desires for us to spend quality time talking to Him, praising Him, singing to Him, and listening to what He has to say to us, both through His Word, and through the still, small voice of The Holy Spirit. Just like our kids, however, we are busy, probably even more so. We have our jobs, housework, shuffling the kids from baseball practice to band practice to church, grocery shopping, volunteer work, Facebook,  e-mail, television, etc., etc. etc.  We are so busy with life, that we don’t make time for the Source of Life in our day. If you are anything like me, at some point in time you have probably said “I just don’t have time anywhere else in the day, so I will get up an hour early and spend my quiet time with God.” If you are really like me, you laid out your Bible and prayer journal, set that alarm for 5:00 am, ready to get up and “get your praise on” , only to jump out of bed panicking at 6:30 because you hit snooze repeatedly in your sleep. ( I didn’t earn the title “Snooze Alarm Queen” for nothing.)

Time with God is vital  to our Christian walk. If we don’t spend time with God and feed on His Word, we become weak and vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. God promises us that if we seek Him we will find him. Jeremiah 29:12-13 says “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart”. (emphasis mine) ALL of our hearts. He doesn’t want what we have leftover at the end of the day. He doesn’t want us to seek Him half-heartedly because we feel obligated to. Would it be any fun for you to spend time with your child if they were only doing it because you forced them to, or because they felt guilty about not hanging out with you? I know I wouldn’t. Odds are you would end up spending the evening with a sullen, pouty, one syllable spouting teenager.  You want your kids to spend time with you because they love you with all their hearts and want to spend time with you. It’s the same for God and us. He created us to love and seek and find Him, and wants a relationship with us. Why else would he sacrifice His son on the cross for our sins  so He could be with us forever? Just as our verse for the day says, if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us, and in following His will for us to spend quality time with Him, we will receive the blessing of His presence. 2 Chronicles 15:2 says “…The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”

I challenge you this week (and myself too) to make spending time with God a priority. Find something in your day that is not spiritually beneficial that you can cut out, and give that time to God. Start your day an hour earlier or end it an hour later.  I promise you God will not return it to you empty. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6.

Father, please forgive me for not making time with you a priority. Just as I desire a close relationship and time with my son, I know you desire the same thing from me, and I ask God that you would reveal to me the things that are hindrances to me, Lord, and help me to eliminate those things so that I may devote the time and passion to seeking you that you deserve and expect. Thank you for your blessings, Father. In the precious Name of Jesus, Amen.

Strong Enough

I needed this song today. Maybe some of you do too.

"Strong Enough" by Matthew West

You must

You must think I'm strong

To give me what I'm going through
Well, forgive me

Forgive me if I'm wrong

But this looks like more than I can do

On my own
I know I'm not strong enough to be everything that I'm supposed to be

I give up

 I'm not strong enough

Hands of mercy won't you cover me

Lord right now I'm asking you to be

Strong enough

Strong enough

For the both of us

Well, maybe

Maybe that's the point

To reach the point of giving up
Cause when I'm finally

Finally at rock bottom

Well, that's when I start looking up

And reaching out
I know I'm not strong enough to be

Everything that I'm supposed to be

I give up I'm not strong enough

Hands of mercy won't you cover me

Lord right now I'm asking you to be

Strong enough

Strong enough

Cause I'm broken

Down to nothing

But I'm still holding on to the one thing

You are God and you are strong

When I am weak

I can do all things

Through Christ who gives me strength

And I don't have to be

Strong enough

Strong enough
I can do all things

Through Christ who gives me strength

And I don't have to be

Strong enough

Strong enough
Oh, yeah

I know I'm not strong enough to be

Everything that I'm supposed to be

I give upI'm not strong enough

Hands of mercy won't you cover me

Lord right now I'm asking you to be

Strong enough

Strong enough

Strong enough

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil 4:13

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."2 Corinthians 12:9-10 



 

Dropsies

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11-12

I am a klutz.

According to my mother, I have always been one. In fact, her favorite joke is "You inherited my grace, baby." (of course, she means lack thereof.)

At least once a day I will run into some stationary object, such as the corner of the bed post, doorway, dining table, etc. I trip over thresholds, sleeping Boxers, the floor, you name it. (Although I am convinced the floor has a vendetta against me and reaches up to trip me regularly.) My fellow grocery shoppers probably get a great laugh out of me running into helpless Hostess snack or Coca Cola displays with my shopping cart. Oh, and don't even get me started on spilling things. Like my coffee. On my keyboard. Just now.

The days I hate the most, however, are the days when I have what my Memaw used to call "The Dropsies". Those are the days when everything I pick up seems to have a death wish and jumps out of my hands. I had one of those days this past Saturday, dropping the same pen cap five times, my cell phone at least twice and the remote control hard enough that it had to be reprogrammed. Not to mention, my perfectly cut up apple pieces, right onto the kitchen floor, ruining them.( In a house with two dogs, two cats and a teenage boy, the "The Five Second Rule" does not exist.) Needless to say, my frustration grew with every slipping object to the point that I just wanted to sit down and not move for the rest of the day to avoid harming myself or any other helpless objects. I felt like I just could not do anything right.

As I sat there, safe on my couch, I started thinking about another kind of "Dropsy" days we have as Christians.

I am talking about those days when you wake up feeling happy and blessed, have your coffee and quiet time, and head out to take on the world, determined to live for God and be an example to others. You drive to work, singing along to your praise and worship music, filled with joy and peace, feeling blessed and strong enough to handle anything.

Then, life happens, and in spite of your best efforts, you end the day feeling defeated by all the things we "dropped" that day.

You just couldn't help but listen to the office gossip and express your disgust at what so and so said or did. When the boss gives you an assignment that will take at least two days and expects it by 5:00 pm, you slip and say a bad word out of frustration. When the cute new guy in the office smiles at you in a way that says much more than he is glad you are co-workers, you allow yourself to smile back and feel flattered by the fact that he noticed you, which causes you to feel guilty and angry with yourself. By the time work is over and you drive home, your level of frustration and weariness causes you to yell at your husband because the garbage hasn't been taken out instead of kissing him hello, and push your kids away when they want to tell you all about their day at school. By the time you crawl in bed that night, you wonder how God could ever forgive you for the way you behaved that day, and how you will ever overcome the never ending "dropsies". Can anyone else relate?

The reality is, Sister, that we all go through these things. We live in a fallen world with a real enemy, Satan, who "prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour". (I Peter 5:8, NIV). He knows that if he can make you feel defeated and worthless, then he can prevent you from telling others about Jesus, and maybe even make you fall away from God yourself. It's hard, scary, real stuff.

The good news is, God loves you, no matter how many times you "drop" things in a day. He knows that we are imperfect children and that we are going to mess up, just like we know our own kids will. More importantly, though, just like there is nothing our children could ever do to make us stop loving them, there is nothing that you or I or any of God's children could ever do to make Him turn His back on us. The Psalmist puts it beautifully in this passage:

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:8-14 NIV)

God knows that we are weak and frail, and He knows that because He made us. That is why His son had to come to earth in the form of a human, weak, frail and tempted, just like we are, to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus paid the price for all the things that you and I screw up with daily, so that we don't have to feel unworthy and defeated. You see, sweet sister, if we have placed our faith in Christ and trusted him as savior, the "Dropsies" don't matter. In Romans 8:1, God's word tell us "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (emphasis mine). If God doesn't condemn us, what right do we have to condemn ourselves?

So, the next time you have a "Dropsie" day, don't beat yourself up. Stop, pray and ask God to help you pick everything back up, and start over again tomorrow. He will be faithful to answer.

Perception vs Truth

"No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua 1:5

 

I have a travel coffee cup with the Serenity Prayer on it that my husband bought me several years ago that I love to use. It is the kind that was a clear plastic cup that a printed piece of cardboard was inserted into to create the design. At some point, the cup was washed in the dishwasher, and the cardboard became dingy, streaked and stained. When I left for work yesterday, I was trying to decide which cup to use, and saw it sitting there in the cabinet-dirty, stained, not nearly as pretty as I had remembered it once was. My first instinct was to reach for the shiny silver mug next to it, but a thought stopped me. Just because the cup wasn't as pretty as it was when I got it, the message it held was just as true as when it was shiny and new.

How many times in our walk as Christians do we treat our faith and relationship with God like that cup? When the sun is shining, all of our loved ones are healthy and happy, our bank accounts are full, our jobs are going well, our children are doing well, etc., we praise God. We thank him for our blessings and tell everyone about how good God is. We quote Jeremiah 29:11 to our friends who are struggling and tell them that God has a plan for whatever they are going through and tell them we will be praying for them. We treat our relationship with God as a prized, shiny possession.

However, when the clouds roll in, a loved one becomes ill, we have financial struggles, trouble at work, problems with our children, etc., we start to treat God like a dirty cup. Our faith in Him doesn't seem as shiny and beautiful as it once was, and we doubt the truth of what His Word says. We wonder how He could allow such hardships to come our way when just yesterday life was shiny and perfect. We struggle to see that His truth has not changed, just OUR perception of it.

God's word tells us that He is always with us (Joshua 1:5) and commands us to fear nothing because he goes everywhere with us (Joshua 1:9). His love is unfailing and His promises are true.

So just remember, that even when it isn't pretty to keep the faith, believe God and follow after Him, HE hasn't changed-just our perception of Him due to our temporary circumstances. Pray and ask Him to remind you of that, and to allow you to see His beauty in the midst of your storm.

At the doctor's office?

^" By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35.)

Working in a doctor's office, while very rewarding most days, can make you very jaded towards people if you are not careful. Most of our patient population is made up of wonderful, hardworking, family oriented people who just want to get their medicine and get well so they can get on with their daily business. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I love my job.

Then, there are the other one percent. These are patients that have figured out the exact right words to say to get whatever drug they have decided they need that day and are very unhappy when they figure out that they are not going to get it. Unfortunately, the ravages of a life led in that manner are immediately recognizable in a person's appearance, and I am ashamed to admit that I sometimes judge people and categorize them by the way they look. Most of the time, my perceptions are correct, but every now and then I am blessedly proven wrong. 

Such was the case about 2 months ago. A very slight, very nervous woman came into the clinic, obviously in distress. She was very tiny, maybe ninety eight pounds, and time had not been kind to her. Her face was very drawn and she appeared at least fifteen years older than the date of birth on her chart.  She moved in a very jerky manner, seemingly unable to control her facial movements and spoke in broken sentences in between tears and groans. I braced myself, expecting her to tell me that she needed some sort of narcotic medication for whatever ailment was causing her jerky movements and facial contortions.

Instead, she explained to me that her husband had passed away the month prior and that she had been unable to eat, sleep, or even function since he had passed. She tearfully told me that she just needed something to help her cope because she could not handle the grief she was dealing with anymore.

I immediately felt about two inches tall for pre-judging her.  I spoke quietly and gently to her, expressing my sympathy for her loss, and ushered her into the exam room. Before closing the door, I noticed a small, silver cross hanging around her neck.

As I closed the door and headed back towards the nurses station to enter her information into the computer, I felt that familiar tug at my heart that I have come to recognize as the Holy Spirit saying to me "Ask her if you can pray with her. "

I quickly charted her information and walked back into the exam room and asked her if she was a Christian. She told me that yes, she had been, but that she had fallen away from church in the past few years. I then asked her if I could pray with here. Immediately,  what could only be described as relief crossed her tearstained, pain-filled face as she exclaimed "YES! Please." I took her hands in mine and began to pray for her. She collapsed on my chest and cried on my scrub top as I asked God to give her comfort, to let her know He was there with her in the midst of her pain and that if she would cry out to Him for help He would answer her and shower her with His love. The more I prayed the harder she cried and I began to tear up too. Finally, I said Amen, sat the sobbing woman gently down in a chair in the exam room to wait for the doctor and excused myself to go wipe my own eyes and regain my composure.

I am blessed to work for a wonderful Christian doctor whose R.N. is a pastor's wife, and I told them about what the woman I had prayed with was going through. When they went in they prayed and counseled with her too. By the time it was time for me let her go home the woman was just sitting in a chair, quietly weeping and saying over and over again "At the doctor's office? Who would have thought it-at the doctor's office? Praise the Lord."

That sentence stuck with me-"At the doctor's office?" It immediately touched me and made me wonder, how many times have I missed an opportunity to share God's love with someone? He places us in the communities we live in, the churches we attend and the places we work so that we can be His hands and feet to the world. How many people had I just written off as having an agenda and not tried to see if there was something I could do for them, a prayer that I could say for them?  The sentence really should be "Why NOT at the doctor's office?" or "Why NOT at the bank, school, fast food restaurant..?" etc. Why should there be ANY place where people don't encounter God through us?  In the book of John, Christ tells us “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35.)  We are to delcare ourselves to the world as Christ's disciples by our love for those around us.

The woman left and tearfully thanked us, assuring us that she would continue praying. She walked out the doors of the clinic and I hoped that what we had said would stick with her.

I had almost forgotten about the fragile grieving widow until last week when we received a card from her the mail. Inside the card were these beautiful words:

"I came into your clinic seeking medication to help me deal with the grief of losing my husband.  What I recieved was so much better than any pill. I receieved a spiritual healing that I am still in awe of to this day." 

Amen sweet sister. God obviously orchestrated the woman's visit to our clinic that day because He knew her soul needed healing as much as her body did. What a tragedy it would have been had we not answered the call the show His love to her.  I pray that I will always have my eyes open to see the need for God's love and comfort in the people around me. How about you?

Dear Father, Please forgive me for all the missed opportunities to share Your love with  the lost and hurting. Lord, please help me to be bold in the future to share Your love and Your truth with those who need You most God.  Let me be known as Yours by my love. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

Here goes!

Hey sisters! I am happy that you have found your way to my humble little blog. I am new to blogging and never really understood why people did it. What was the thrill in keeping basically the online equivalent of the diary we all had as teenagers so that hundreds of people (too optimistic?) that we don't even know could read all about the details of our lives. Plus, who was disciplined enough to or had enough time to post on it every day? Certainly not me.

Apparently God and I have a difference of opinion.

Over the last year or so,  I have begun to feel that God wants me to write devotionals. My basis for this is the fact that every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, ordinary mundane things will happen and I will "hear" a little voice in my head say "Hey-that would be a great topic to build a devotional on." I am not talking about profound, epiphinal moments but simple things like dropping everything all day or the commercials for that website that makes you obsessed with how many people are looking for you. Little things that we all experience that could be related to something so much more. I had about 5 in a row today and finally looked up and smiled and said "Yes sir Father- I will do it." He is pushy for our own good sometimes Amen?

So here I go.  It is my prayer that God will be heard here-not me. I want this to be HIS blog, not mine. I just want to be the vessel that allows His love and HIS words to reach a sister who needs to hear His voice.

God bless you and come back soon-Good stuff is coming!