Morning Light

Morning Light

Even the darkness is not dark to You.

The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You.

Ps 139:12

I pull out of my driveway and notice the moon still high above the earth. As I merge onto the highway I notice the sky begin to turn pink and orange as the Sun ascends. It struck me the other morning as I watched, the moon disappear, that morning darkness, is different from night darkness. Have you ever been outside as the sun beings to descend and notice how dark it is? The darkness surrounds you thick and your eyesight becomes foggy as you try to see in front of you. With the morning, though it is dark, the darkness doesn’t seem to have that same fog?

As a child, I feared the night. I would lay in bed and listen to every noise, I had to know exactly what each sound was. I remember I had this clock that would, tick tock, and I knew down to the second when I would hear it. Sometimes a new sound would enter the darkness and I would lay in bed afraid. I would stare into the darkness trying to figure out what the noise was. I was too afraid to get out of bed and turn on the light, so some nights I would lay until shear exhaustion would finally take over and I would wake to my alarm in the morning. As a young child, I would lay in bed and cry out for my mother, until she would come and take my sister to her bed to sleep beside my dad and then she would crawl in bed with me. As a young girl, I had nightmares that would wake me, but as a teen-ager, it was the darkness that caused me fear.

When I moved out on my own, I learned to sleep in a house with just myself and my son. The darkness didn’t bother me as much, but those nightmares followed me. Then, I gave my life to Christ and the Holy Spirit in me, gave the enemy a run for his money. I can remember one nightmare I was having was so disturbing that I woke myself up, shouting scripture! Praise God! The scripture I had learned as a child was flowing from my mouth. I sat up and shouted the words….

“For the Lord has given his Angels charge over me and they will keep me in all my ways, and in my path there is life and there is no death!” Over and over again I said it, until I was calm and dark, was no longer as dark as it had once been.

It stuck me that it is like that for those lost. When darkness comes it surrounds them with no hope, only pain and despair. For followers of Christ, we know that darkness cannot overcome the light.

That light shines in the darkness,

yet the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1:5

Rarely, I still have nightmares. Now that I am married, I normally snuggle up to my husband and I still say scripture over and over again, until the enemy flees and my mind is clear of the nightmare that woke me. When we have a relationship with the Father, we don’t have to worry about the darkness. Like John says, the darkness did not overcome the Light. You see, where there is light, there is no darkness. Darkness by definitions is void of light. That is what happens to nonbelievers.

Lord, You light my lamp; my God illuminates my darkness.

Ps 18:28

Being a follower of Christ does not mean that we will not have dark days, but it does mean that the darkness cannot overcome the light in our lives. . Let me say that again, the darkness in our lives, cannot overcome the light in our lives. We are never void of light, praise God, we always have the light, guiding us through.

                                                                   

Our Father who is in Heaven, Holy is your name. Lord, I come to you with thanksgiving in my heart for the light in my life. The light that shines when the darkness begins to fall and the enemy starts to take my down a road of fear. I praise you for scripture held dear to my heart that causes the enemy to flee as even in sleep I know to call out to you for protection with your living, breathing word. Lift up those reading this that have fear in their hearts and show them the Light. If any does not know you as their personal Savior, then Lord I pray they desire a relationship with you and give themselves to you. Amen.

Glory in Tribulation

Glory in Tribulation

Two years ago my family went through major changes. The enemy attacked my husband and me, twice within a 6 month period. Both attacks involved our children, one was partially expected, just not as soon, the second came out of nowhere and shook our foundation. My husband took a 6 month break from teaching the Sunday school class he loves and I went into a downward spiral of depression.  I spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect prayer. I watched the movie, War Room, and immediately created a war room of my own. I started a journal like the movie suggested. When that didn’t “fix” things. I tried to find the perfect prayer and pray “correctly”. I thought if I used the right words, God would fix everything and when that didn’t work, I became angry and cried out in frustration to God.

Over the last two years, our family has done some amazing things. My husband went to Honduras on a mission trip and has committed more time to work in the church. I started reading my bible daily and working in different areas in the church. God, has blessed us beyond measure. At one point, all I could do was cry as God poured his blessings on us. We had no explanation for most of what was happening and still don’t. I remember looking at my husband and saying through tears, it is too much, we are not worthy.

We are still in the storm and still praying for restoration. We know that God is protecting us. We know that God allowed each thing to happen when it did to protect us from further hurt from the enemy. So, while our hearts ache, we rejoice in the knowledge, that God saw this attack and placed angels around to prevent something more.

When the enemy attacks all we can think about is the pain we are feeling at that very moment. I have had time to look at the last two years and realize that God used these last two years to build a stronger relationship with me. I love more. I don’t judge, as much. I’ve learned that all sin is sin and I thank God that he does not judge one sin more than another. I try to see past the sin and look at how the enemy is deceiving someone. If we search deep down at sin, that is what we will find deception. The promise of something better, but it never is.

5 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God

. ³ And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;

 ⁴ and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Romans 5: 1-4

It took a long time for me to, glory in tribulation. What tribulation are you going through? Have you found glory or are you allowing the enemy to steal your joy? Nothing makes the enemy angrier than to see you grow in character and hope, when he tries to steal, kill and destroy.

If you are going through a storm today, remember, God knew this would happen. He saw it and He is with you. He will see you through and you will come out of it. We are not promised a perfect life, but for those of us that have accepted Christ as our personal Savior, this, is the only Hell we will ever know.

Father God, Thank you for sending an army of angels to protect when the enemy attacks. Thank you for your word that reminds us that it is through these times we grow. I pray for those going through the storm right now. I pray they glory in the tribulation and know that you have already won.

#PRAYFORCHARLOTTE

#PRAYFORCHARLOTTE

Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

Ps 133:1

I live on the outskirts of Charlotte NC. As a young adult the city lights amazed me and I loved driving into and out of Charlotte, late at night, and seeing the tall buildings lit up. At one point, I thought nothing would be better than to live in an uptown apartment, walk to work, and enjoy Charlotte night life. I am far from that 20 something girl, full of big city living dreams, but I still love to see the Charlotte skyline. Now, I drive into Charlotte early every morning. I enjoy watching as the skyline comes into view and as I turn onto Morehead, the street is alive with people jogging, walking to work, parking, and just getting ready for their day. It is, the Queen city, and to me, it is a place of imagination. It is the home to my Carolina Panthers, Charlotte Hornets, Charlotte Knights, and The Charlotte Checkers. She, is a diverse city, where people from every walk of life end up, either on purpose or by chance. People migrate to her with big dreams and unfailing dreams. I have friends that were just passing through and never left. She, Queen Charlotte, is full of life, love, and hope.

This week, Charlotte has been rocked by violent riots, hidden under the name of protest. I’ve seen and heard evil, hate, and hopelessness. Hope, that is what a very good friend of mine said. The people out there have lost hope. This is what happens, when people lose hope.

Jehovah (the Lord) will be a refuge unto his people and a stronghold to the children of Israel.

Joel 3:16

Our society looks to the US government for hope, instead of looking for hope in the One from which all blessings flow. Instead of getting on our knees and praying for love, peace, and hope, we stand firm in our belief that we are right and all other opinions are wrong. I have a very good friend that is probably as far left, as I am right. I love her and I respect her opinion more than most people in my life. When something bad happens, I know I can go to her and she will love me without judgement. I can only hope I provide the same to her.  I know, I can go to her and say, why do people feel this way, and she will give me an educated response. That’s not something, I can always do, however, she has taught me to educate myself and to not just believe something, because a certain news station is reporting it. When the riots started in Charlotte, I sent her a crying cat emoji, with no words and no prior conversation about the riots. She responded, “I know girl! I feel the exact same way!!” We know each other and we have both learned from each other. We often joke that we should go to Washington and show them, that you can achieve bi-partisanship. Just look at us! Maybe we should start a podcast?

So then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith.

Gal 6:10

But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink.

Rom 12:20

I’m in a funny place this week. I see a city that I love in pain and I want to help her. I ask you, to Pray for Charlotte and don’t just stop there! Pray for this country. Pray for those that have lost hope. Don’t watch TV and read the comments and start calling people animals. Instead, me included, let’s rise above that and start calling out unity in Jesus name. Let’s speak peace and hope over these cities that are being violated by the enemy. Look past the people and remember that our fight is not with flesh and blood and remember who the ruler of this world is. The enemy has to flee at the name of Jesus! Stand in your home and just shout His name, if you don’t know how to pray for this world. JESUS, JESUS, JESUS!

Father God, humbly I come. Humbly I pray. I ask for guidance over how to pray for the evil our enemy is bringing against us. I pray for hope for the hopeless. I ask your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus Christ name. Amen.

And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fullness of hope even to the end.

Heb 6:11

Directions

Directions

 

 

I had made the drive to and from Raleigh, NC, a few times now and I had become confident that my directionally challenged self, could find my way home without assistance of the Garmin, sitting in the front seat. This was a few years ago and I did not have an IPhone to correctly direct my path, nor did my car have Blue Tooth or my phone for that matter. I headed home, feeling good as we had gotten out of the meeting, early, and this meant I would be home around 7 and not the normal 8 p.m. About an hour into my drive, I realized that I had missed an important exit and decided to stop and ask for directions back to I-85.The person at the convenience store was not much help and sent me on a wild goose chase down a back road that led me once again to another store. By this time I was so far off track the store clerk did not have clear understanding of where I-85 was. I was completely thrown off guard by this, as I have always lived close to this interstate and this made me realize exactly how far off course I had been led. Finally someone from the area told me to turn left out of the parking lot and it would take me to I-85. Relieved, I hopped back in the car and began a terrifying trip down a two lane road, in the dark. I called my husband, but he was unable to help me as he had no idea where I was either. He was just as worried and worked with the little he had to try to help me. Of course, my phone battery was getting low. In an effort to save my battery, we hung up and I continued to drive. I turned the Christian station I was listening to up and cried as I realized I had no idea where I was and the only light I could see was from the houses far off the road, mingled between long stretches of farm land. At one point I was hysterical in my pleas with God to help me find my way. I just drove through the darkness, frantically looking for the familiar road signs that would point me toward the highway I so desperately sought. Finally, I saw a sign that pointed I-85 forward. I was so relieved that again, I cried. I was shocked to see that I ended up in Burlington, NC, only an hour and a half from home. I made it home around 9:00 that night and hugged my husband, thankful to be home.

“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”

John 14:5

Have you ever been invited to a meeting, but didn’t know the way to the conference room referenced in the invite? What about dinner with a group of friends and everyone knew where the “usual” place was, except you? You are not alone! The disciples had been a privileged group of men that got to walk with the Savior for 3 years, yet when Jesus sat with them during Passover and began to prepare them for his death and then told them not to worry, that he was going to prepare a place for them – they were clueless! Thomas, innocently ask, what I am sure the rest of them were thinking. Um, Jesus, are you going to give us directions to this place you are “preparing”? I know I would have been, clueless, as well. I’m pretty sure that if I was in the, Christ is the son of God circle, and not the,  this man is crazy, circle, that I would have believed He was here to prepare an earthly Kingdom. You know, like King David and He was going to save us from the Romans? Right? I can imagine the confusion in the room as the disciples start to realize that He was talking about His death. I am sure that some shook it off as more parables He would explain later.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

John 14: 6-7

Um, what? I think that would have been the thought in my head? What did He just say? I’m just being honest, friends. Especially that last line? So, if I know you, I also know your father and from now on I have seen Him? I don’t think the disciples got it either.

“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

John 14:8

If I’m Peter, I’m like, thank you, Philip! Whew, so happy I am not the only one that needs to see the Father. Okay, I’m getting a little silly, but if you read this conversation, without the benefit of the knowledge of the Cross and Resurrection, one can image how confused they were. Remember, this was before the Holy Spirit had come on them. They did not fully understand what Christ was telling them.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that

I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in Me does His works.

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.

John 14: 9-11

When I talk to people that are not Followers of Christ, I find myself sad that even though they have been shown the directions to eternal life, they still have a hard time following them. Before that faithful, Easter Sunday, when I accepted Christ as my personal Savior, I would have told everyone that I was saved and eternally secure. I had been raised with a good knowledge of the Bible, I knew that one must believe in Christ to enter the Kingdom, and of course, I had been baptized. I was not following the directions. To know who Christ is, to know the sacrifice He made on the cross, to be baptized, are just landmarks on the map. To follow the directions one must understand that Christ is the, Way, Truth, and Life. One must accept that to go to the Father, they must go through Christ. When your heart fully accepts what that means. Only then, have you followed the directions. The other, is just stuff. For me, it was a moment that stood still in time when my heart understood why my Savior was on the cross. I, had put Him there. The choir sang, Behold the Lamb, and I watched on a screen, a Hollywood portrayal of Christ crucified on the cross. In that frozen moment of time, I was transported to the cross and fully understood the consequences of my flesh. My very nature to sin, had created a need for a perfect sacrifice. One that could redeem me from past, present, and future sin. Christ understood before we were created, that free expression, freedom to choose, meant the inability to remain sinless. He choose, before Creation, to die. He could have chosen another plan or cease all together. Instead, He created a world, destined to fail, and prepared a way for those that accept Him, to have eternal life.

I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.

If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into

the fire and they are burned.

John 15:5-6

Abba Father, my Savior, my redeemer, my eternal hope. I pray for all of those that do not believe this road is for them. Those that find the directions too simple and reject the idea that they are worth saving. I pray for those that sit in pews each Sunday, separated from the vine and unable to see this. Father, I have friends that do not believe they can be forgiven. I write their names in my journal and I lift them to you. Show them the Light, which has already forgiven them. Amen.

Uprooted

Uprooted

 

I felt the familiar tug on my heart, as I collected dirty clothes, dreading where the Lord was leading me. I knew what I needed to do- you see I heard, God loud and clear, this morning during worship. The Preacher, in an effort to answer the question around why terrorist attached during 09/11, took us to James chapter 4. Scripture that was intended to talk about evil in the world and the reason other countries hate us, had instead stabbed me.  

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you?

James 4:1

There it was, that stab that I talked about. The word cravings stood out to me and spoke to my heart in a place I thought I had long since felt peace and forgiveness. I knew what I would have to do, even then, and I blocked it out and tried to listen to the rest.

You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.

You not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may

spend it on your evil desires.

James 4: 2-3

There it was, the stabbing that continued. “You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives…….” I put my shield of dirty laundry down, grabbed my bible, pen, and made my way for my prayer room. I closed the door and looked to the night stand for the prayer room journal and flipped to the next empty page. I wrote out the scripture above and then without hesitation I began to write truth. I began to write the real desire in my heart surrounding what I really want to happen to the person in this world that the enemy has used to tear apart my family. It wasn’t hard, the pen flowed quickly, as I knew exactly, the revenge I wanted to see my God strike, with the full force of His Angel army, on them. I wrote on and on and then I stopped. I took a deep breath as the revenge seeped from the ink. I didn’t need to go back and read it; that revenge has rooted in my heart for years. I exhaled, and began to ask God for forgiveness. I’ve been asking God to restore my family, when in my own heart, what I am really asking for is, to win. I had to take a minute to write down what I really want. That was the revolting part. The revenge came so easy, but to write out what I really wanted, the healing, I really want for my family, well, that took a little time.

 A prayer warrior and friend from church told me that God had laid it on her heart to pray specially that the darkness rooted in the heart of the person that has caused our family to be torn apart,  be pulled out. Confirmation of this prayer has come from a weekly devotion I read. I never thought that any of the conversation around evil taking root was for me personally.  I had allowed the enemy to root such revenge in my heart that God had to show me what it was doing to me. I explained it away by reading the Psalms and seeing how King David ask God to strike down his enemies. The difference was that God knew David’s heart; just, as God knows mine.

Teach me Your way, O Lord: I will walk in Your Truth:

Unite my heart to fear your name.

Ps 86: 11

We must trust that when we confess He is our help – that He will help no matter what happens. We must trust that He will make what is wrong, right. We must also recognize when we have allowed evil thoughts to take root in our own heart.

I sat, closed my eyes, ask God to remove the root and then I imaged Jesus pulling the root from my heart. The anger is still there and only God can help me with that. I know that God is protecting us and working to restore our family. I am encouraged when He takes time to help me grow through this trial. I see it as one more way God is using something the enemy intended for bad, to be good.

What is the root in your heart? Do you have resentment, jealousy, hate, shame, fear, guilt, pain, etc.… Whatever it is; Jesus Christ can uproot it from your heart.

Father, I thank you for showing me the root of revenge in my heart and for uprooting it. I pray that if the roots try to take hold again, that you are there to weed them out. I pray for those reading today that you show them the roots in their own hearts. Let’s begin to uproot evil so that we can be vessels for you. Amen

Holes

Holes

Yesterday I sat with a gentleman that was out give me an estimate for cleaning out our air ducts and a few other things. He began showing me pictures he had taken under our home of areas that allow for wasted heating and air conditioning. He then took me through pictures of other older homes, showing how a home loses air, which in turn leads to higher heating and air bills. This conversation could not have come at a better time, due to the ridiculous check I just sent to the city for utilities. Of course, it is yet again, a very hot summer in the beautiful South, thus a very high bill to cool my tri-level home. I started to think about all of those small holes in my home that were costing me more than I knew. Is it, like this in our own lives? Small holes, small worldly things that waste energy and cause us to pay a high price?

Even now, I sit alone at the kitchen table, breakfast beside me, computer in front of me, while my sweet 9 year old eats his breakfast downstairs, while binge watching a Netflix cartoon. While it seems harmless, how many evenings are spent with each family member in a separate place eating dinner, scrolling Facebook, watching Netflix or doing something other than eating together? As a child, we never ate a part. Dinner time we sat together in the kitchen eating a dinner my mother prepared. There were normally handmade buttermilk biscuits, a meat, bologna if it was the day before Daddy got paid, and sweet tea to drink. My mother liked it really sweet! If peas were involved, mom always baked potatoes, so I could hide my "yucky" green peas in the empty potato. This was so ,Daddy would not force me to eat them. Thank you Mom. J

This, is a hole in my family. I know that in a few short years, puberty will infect my sweet baby and he will no longer want to tell us the tales from a long day playing at the day-care. Instead, he will want to be alone as his body changes and he is no longer comfortable with the people trying to tell him what to do. Even at 9, he would rather watch TV than to sit and eat dinner with us. My older son doesn’t mind, when he is home, and encourages his younger brother to eat with us.

 He was raised before social media and Netflix. However, I do recall a time, that as a manger, I carried my phone, everywhere. We had stopped at a Pizza Hut for dinner and before we headed in, my son ask me to please leave my phone in the car so that he and I could eat dinner together. I was taken back. I remember a feeling a deep sadness as I realized that he felt like my cell phone came not just between us, but before him. I did leave my phone in the car and it wasn’t long that God placed me in a less stressful job, so I could be with him more.

Fast forward to a few days later….

Unlike, the man, currently under my house, taking pictures of all of the holes and places that energy escapes, in life we don’t have a service provider that can inspect our lives and see where we waste energy. No one can come out and fill in the holes and lay new insulation around us. What we do have, is God’s unfailing Word. We have direct communication to the Father and we have the Holy Spirit, to guide us.

Then Jesus spoke to them again:

“I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows Me will never

Walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

In John Chapter 9, our Lord and Savior heals a man blind from birth. The Pharisees, refusing to believe that Jesus is the Savior, question the man many times and his parents, trying to verify that he was indeed blind and that now he sees. The man, frustrated with the Pharisees says:

“I already told you,” he said, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

You don’t want to become His disciples too, do you?”

                                                                                                                                                              John 9:27                                                                                                                                                                             

Like with many unbelievers today, the Pharisees ridiculed him and threw him out. The man got another jab at the Pharisees, which is ultimately why they threw him out, but, I’ll let you read that. Soon after, Jesus heard what happened to this man and found him.

When Jesus head that they had thrown the man out, He found him and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

“Who is He, Sir, that I may believe in Him?” He ask

Jesus answered, “You have seen Him; in fact, He is the One speaking with you.”

“I believe Lord!” he said, and he worshiped Him.

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and asked Him, “We aren’t blind too, are we?”

“If you were blind, “Jesus told them, “you wouldn’t have sin. But now that you say, “We see” – your sin remains”

John 9: 35-41

How many times did the Pharisees use Moses and Abraham to justify their unbelief? The truth was they saw God sending a King that was to be served, not a man, serving others. They had holes in their faith and refused to see them, therefore when they claimed to “see” the truth, they in fact were sinning.

Have you ever wondered which side you would have been on? Would you have believed that Jesus was the Christ or would you have been shouting, “Crucify Him!” I recently had a conversation like this with an Aunt on Facebook. I thought about her comment to me and realized, that I would have probably found going against the Pharisees and the tradition of the day, hard. I tend to be very conservative, (all of my close friends are smiling), and I just don’t know if I would have believed? It scares me to think I may have been crying out for his death instead of following Him as I do now.

Father God, I pray that you help us find the holes in our life. Help us move away from things that are wasting our energy and be a more productive disciple of Christ. Amen.

Disobedience

Disobedience

 

What do you write about when you have spent your week watching Netflix, reading books on your IPhone, and listening to Podcast, as you discover new gods to put before the very one that brought you through the storm, not 3 months ago? After a hard week of learning a lesson, again, that partial obedience leads to a rough few days, as you sit silently suffering the consequences of not sitting quietly, just a few days before? How do you uplift people that may need to hear a word from God, when even your, morning prayer time, has been interrupted with social media scrolling, delicious cups of coffee, and quiet moments of listening to the chorus of birds, as the sun wakes up the earth?

You write about it. You let people know that you are human and that you put other gods before the Father, this week. We all fall short of His glory and this week is a perfect example. Instead of streaming Christian music into my car for the 30 plus minute drive to and from work, I listened to more secular music. Choosing to drown out the poor choices I made with the sounds of Moby and Adele, other than letting Toby and the Newsboys sway my soul and listen as God talks to me through worship in music. You see, most of what I write is given through conversations with God. Music keeps my attention and drowns out the world. It allows me to listen to the Savior as He guides my direction. This week, I choose a different path. Not because I was angry or because I wanted to drown out my God. I just simple choose to drown out all of it. I didn’t listen when God told me to stay quiet two weeks ago and I had to deal with the aftermath. While I said nothing untrue and in reality did nothing wrong in the eyes of the world, I did not obey the Father and because of that, I was left unprotected from the harshness of this world. I made my life unnecessarily uncomfortable, because I spoke, when I had been told to not say a word.

Have you, ever heard God tell you not to, yet you did and very quickly realized why He said no? In that moment of, what I did was not wrong, but now I have to deal with discomfort because I didn’t listen to the Creator? So, in my flesh, I choose to ignore the, I told you so, conversation and instead, drown it all out. What I am left with, is a feeling of emptiness as I wait for my conversations to begin again. For the last few months, God has brought the story of Saul and his partial disobedience to me. So much so, that I recently told my husband I was ready to change Sunday school material so we could learn something new. I guess, I needed to hear, Saul’s disobedience over and over again. When will I learn?

However, I did give them this command: Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be

My people. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.

Jer. 7:23

So that it may go well with you… How true that is. If we would obey the Savior, things will go well. It is when we stray from what God tells us, that we find ourselves in a mess. Just a simple instruction from God to stay quiet about a situation, on that day, would have saved me a few uncomfortable days. I pray your week has been better. I hope someone reading this can relate. I am sure that someone reading this, needed this. If it is you, know that you are not alone and that we all have days, weeks, or months that we fall short. I know I do.

Father, forgive me for partial obedience or rather, disobedience. I ask you to turn my attention to you and help me lay the idols down, so that our relationship continues to grow. Give me strength to do as you ask. Give me courage to step out of my comfort zone and have assurance that, if my God is for me, who can be against me? Help me take a leap of faith and walk with you. Father, take care of all of those that read these words. I pray for each and every one. Amen.