Yesterday was one of those days when I finished preaching I wondered what I said and if what I said got the message across as God desired. I was so distracted by the tingling in my face/head and struggled with speaking. When I woke up with the tingling and shakies, I asked God to give me what I needed to accomplish His goal. I had comments afterward about how good of a sermon it was and was thankful God was in control. We all have distractions in life. Some are in the physical sense such as illness, handicaps, etc. Others are in the emotional sense such as relationship issues, anger, sadness, grief, etc. What we must be aware of are those that hit in our spiritual sense. The enemy does not like when people make strides toward living as God desires. He puts distractions before us to pull us away from God. We all have freewill so must make 'right' decisions to stand up against the enemy. It takes being intentional in our relationship with God to be in a place where we not only hear Him but desire to walk in obedience to Him. I am reminded again this morning of Jeremiah's words in chapter twenty-nine. Verse thirteen tells us when we look for Him intently, we will find Him. Distractions in life can take away the intention in our focus on Him. They can cloud our thinking. Thoughts will come into our minds that are not normal for us. What we must remember is that nothing surprises God. He knows all. He sees all. That does not mean just our actions but our thoughts too. We have to allow Him into our life totally if we truly want to be intentional in our relationship with Him. That means before saying 'yes' to another project or activity we need to allow Him to direct our response. It means realizing not everything that is 'good' is good to do. We cannot do everything put before us. When we try to do so, distractions will become greater. A distraction is something that takes our focus off of what is important. So many times when I am with others I look around and see many on their phones instead of having conversation with the people with them. That is a distraction. I catch myself thinking about my response to what someone is saying to me instead of fully listening to them. That is a distraction. I desire to be fully engaged with people I am with but I know I fail at times. I need to get better at it and pray for God to empower me to do so. Today is a new day of a new week. My mind is all over the place as I deal with the effects of the high dose prednisone which causes little sleep. But I will be intentional in not allowing my circumstances to distract me. Instead I am choosing to focus on allowing God to guide me through this hurdle in life. Tauren Wells' song reminds me there will be "Joy In The Morning"! Life may not make sense but I just need to trust God for whatever lies ahead.
Everything happens for a reason
But you don't know what you don't know
And you'll never have peace if you don't let go of tomorrow
'Cause it ain't even faith 'til your plan falls apart
But you still choose to follow
If it doesn't make sense right now
It will when it's over
There will be joy in the morning
Dear Jesus, Thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace that surrounds me! Thank You for the blessings of yesterday and the ones ahead today! Thank You for empowering me over distractions of life. Cleanse me so You can fill me to overflowing with more of You. I pray Your peace and joy over many going through hurdles in life. My Momma; my sisters Linda, Sally, and Mary; my brother Richard; Ben and Colleen; Pete and Delores; Steve; Cait; Rhonda; Mike; Norma Hall; Sharon Sebolt and her parents; some young ladies with anxiety; a young man out of rehab who needs strength in his daily walk; Mary Lilley; a husband/father separated from his wife; Brooklyn; Kristen Batten; Amber; families in turmoil; Gay and Doug; Sherry; Serena and her husband; and many others. I also pray healing prayers over many who are dealing with 'c' and/or going through treatments...Chrissy's cousin; Shirley Jones; Preacher Bill Watts; Cait's friend with leukemia; my pastor friend with daily chemo; Little Ivy; Little Judson; Little Roselynn; a young girl in our community; a lady whose breast cancer has returned; a lady diagnosed with stage two breast cancer; a lady diagnosed with throat cancer; Sue Danhoff's husband Harv; Michele with breast cancer; and a young lady awaiting cancer testing. I pray for: the Long Family, Becky, Russ, a couple contemplating divorce and another couple having serious issues. Thank You for continued healing for: Pastor Tommy and Pam, Baby Henry, Kaye, and Darryle and his family. I pray for a father with a prodigal daughter to know You have not left him. I pray for Melinda and Todd with all they are going through. Lord, once again I pray today will be the day the MS tingling dissipates. Thank You for being My Strength! Amen.
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