Wow! How often do I do this?!
I let my decisions be swayed by what I think other people think about me. It’s insane -worthless!
I let trendy things and expressions guide me – worthless!
I let my emotions, fears and impatience guide me – worthless!
Man….I need to be more aware of what/who I’m allowing to guide me. The more aware I am that the Holy Spirit is with me all the time, the more I’ll rely on His guiding rather than everything around me (or my emotions inside me).
I was hesitant to use a picture of a church for this scripture because I don’t want you to think that yearning for the “courts of the Lord” only means longing to go to a building. I long and yearn to be in God’s presence. Going to a local church is an amazing way to get in God’s presence! BUT it’s not the only way nor should it be your primary way to get in His presence.
I love being with my husband and it would be tragic if I decided we could only spend time together one day a week, at a certain location for an hour and a half. Yikes!! It would be hard to get to know him like this. Sure, I’d learn a little bit about him but I wouldn’t KNOW him. I’m with him as often as possible and when he’s at work or we’re not together we text often. I’m learning what makes him tick, what he finds funny, how to listen to him well and get him to tell me things that are going on in his head.
There’s no way I’d learn all this if I only had 1.5 hours out of 168 hours in a week. I did the math. That’s less than 1% of my week. Wow!
But we do it to God sometimes. We think, I put in my time for the week. I went to church. But I doubt the psalmist that wrote this was thinking “I long for 1.5 hours with you God.” I bet he was constantly desiring time with God. Consistently craving a relationship with Him. Wanting to know what makes Him tick. What makes Him laugh. What He’s thinking. We only get this kind of relationship by spending time. Not just <1% of our time.
I keep this simple. Just like time with my husband, I don’t have a scripted list of questions or topics to discuss. I just hang out with him. Ask him for advice. Relax with him. Do fun stuff with him.
I try to do this with God too. In my mothering, I ask Him for help. “How do I discipline this strong-willed 3 year old?” In my marriage, I ask him for patience. “Help me love him even though I’m picking up yet another pair of his smelly socks out from between the couch cushions.”
Because God’s not physically with me, I also take time to read the Bible. It helps me get to know Him even better. It’s not something I do to check it off my “list of holy duties.” It’s something I long for and desire so I can know my loving and gentle Father better.
I’m excited for us both to continue to long for Him more and more each day!!
This is tough! To honestly say I desire NOTHING on earth but God. That’s pretty extreme. I want to say that but it’s much easier said than done.
My natural tendency is to desire other things more than I desire God. I desire food more than God. I desire sleep more than God. I desire love from my husband more than God. I desire acceptance from people more than God. Wow!
How do I start to desire Him more than anything else?! I think it starts with simply being intentional about spending time with Him. This doesn’t have to be intimidating. Currently, I intentionally wake up at least an hour before my kids wake up so that I can spend some quiet time reading my Bible in the mornings-without my phone. I like this because it’s the one time of my day that there are no distractions (other than my own thoughts). The sun’s not even up yet usually! My hubby is still asleep. My kids are (hopefully) still asleep. And I can read without interruptions. It’s beautiful.
I totally get that we’re all in different seasons of parenting right now. When Sweet Love was first born, I slept every morning until one of my kids woke me up. Getting up before them was inconceivable because I had just been up every 2-3 hours nursing my new baby. I was exhausted, to put it lightly. So my “quiet time” looked much different. Spending long amounts of time reading the Bible just didn’t happen. I chose instead to rest in God’s presence while nursing or driving or cooking dinner. I tried to quiet my crazy, endless and (most of the time) anxious thoughts and focus my thoughts on God. His goodness. How much He loves me. And just rest my mind from all the anxiety and exhaustion and focus on God.
So just do what works in the season you’re in. But make time to focus your thoughts on God. And soon, both of us will start to desire God above everything else on earth! It’s a process but I believe it will be worth it.
God wants me to live in peace….all the time. How beautiful. He doesn’t want me to worry or fret or gets anxious about things because He cares about me so deeply.
And I have authority over my heart. I can allow it to be fearful and troubled….or not.
I love that God doesn’t desire for us to be poor. He wants us to have more then enough so we can meet our needs and help others. But it’s so important to remember that if we do acquire wealth, we aren’t to set our heart on it and let it become the center of our lives!
That’s why tithing and giving to the church are so important. It keeps us humble and reminds us that everything we have is a gift from God in the first place.
I wrote down all 4 of my memory verses today to make sure I still have them all in my brain! I rehearse them all the time: driving to school, making dinner, doing laundry. I’m constantly trying to speak these verses out of my mouth.
Today’s is Psalm 33:1
I was drawn to memorize this verse because I’m a worshipper! We were all designed to worship and it’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s a beautiful verse because I’m only righteous and upright because I trust in Jesus to save me. I don’t become righteous by doing everything right all the time but by accepting what Jesus did for me on the cross. He makes me righteous.
So now that I’ve been made righteous by trusting Him, my praise is beautiful! Regardless of what it sounds like, it’s beautiful to Him. I love it!
First I simply bless Him. I turn my attention to Him; start thinking about His goodness rather than my troubling thoughts. Then I LET, ALLOW Him, ASK Him and LISTEN to Him guiding me. I do what He asks.
I just get to sit back and take in the beauty of the journey. As long as I stay with my guide, I won’t get lost. He may take me up some rocky paths that seem steep and treacherous so I can look down from above and be in awe of the beauty. But He will be at my right hand through it so I won’t be shaken. Because He is at my right hand – He’s closer than anyone else in my life. I let His words speak louder than anyone else in my life. I remind myself that He made it all, experienced it all and literally knows it all!
vs 9 Therefore my heart is glad.
When my focus is on my counselor and guide then my heart can be glad and light. I have a guide. It’s not up to me to figure out the path and remember the map.
Mom Challenge 