Five Minute Friday- Rest

His word promises that if I seek Him first, if I seek His kingdom first, the rest will be taken care of.

I begin my day with the One who always was. He never wasn't and He always will be and He chooses to sit with me and encourage me in His Word daily. I think on the hard things. I reread and read again because my feeble mind can't comprehend His greatness. I move into prayer and I am speechless. What does a wretched wife and mom say to this just and powerful Being? Words and thoughts could never be enough. Yet, I know He wants to hear from me.

I have a million, trillion, gazillion things to ask for: requests for friends and friends of friends, for missionaries, for the persecuted, for those closest to my heart, and for the one with possibly the most need- myself. Because as I gaze into the mirror, I see the stuff that shouldn't be there. But He reminds me to simply seek Him first.

And that is what I've been attempting to do. Why is it so difficult? Shouldn't it be simple to dwell on the Creator of the grandest galaxies and the smallest cells? He is amazing. Why is this so hard?

And so I am forced to rush through my 'time' with Him because the day ahead is full and I am already running behind. Get the kids up, make their lunches, hope you don't have to leave the house too messy, and don't forget you have to get gas on the way.

This is when the 'rest' that I somehow thought would be painless and perfect begins to look awful and oh so unholy. But Lord, I spent time with you this morning. I was in your Word, mediating on Your goodness. I asked you to bless my day and to help me be an example of You to these! What happened? Why am I yelling at my son? Why am I so full of frustration? You said You would take care of it!

Do I sound like a lost child? I had a huge pity party and cried the whole way to school. My son simply said he was sorry and thanked me for making his lunch. I cried even more because I know that a soft answer turns away wrath, yet my gracious God took my failure and used even that to mold the heart of my son. And the heart of this mom. And I fought back tears throughout the day because I want to simply enter His rest. I want to be done with the striving and the hurt. I cannot bear the pain of that knife in my chest being twisted and turned. I can't bear the failure of this whole mom thing.

I see that reflection and know even more so how much I am in need of my Savior. And I am so grateful that He would even have me; that my son would even hug me and apologize to a mama that needs to be rebuked. I hope that someday my children know the pain of a parent; the reason we do what we do and look so crazy and out of sorts. I hope they can understand that as I correct them and reproof them, I am twisted up inside because my own sin is so unbearable. They think I'm attempting to remove their plank, but really it's just a speck compared to my own.

But seek Him first. That is what I continue to do. Despite my shortcomings and my sins. Despite my words of wrath and my harsh reactions. Despite my inability to see Him as He truly is, I seek Him and He faithfully responds.

Yes, even in the yuck of life, He offers me rest for my soul. I accept!

(Five minutes? This took me twenty!)

Lisa-Jo offers the challenge week after week: take a measly five minutes (or half an hour, whatever get's us typing!) and write. No over thinking, no backtracking, no ‘wait, that’s not spiritual enough, and I can’t share that in cyber city’ mentality. Only writing. Writing for five minutes and risking the outcome. This week’s prompt- REST

{and don’t forget to spend some time commenting on the post of the person who linked up just before you}

Follow me by liking my Facebook page. 

To Everything There is a Season

It is said that our brains need about eight hours of sleep each night to receive maximum rejuvenation. It is also believed that a short 10-20 minute nap will revitalize the tired mind. However too much sleep at night, or napping longer than the allotted twenty minutes is likely to leave us unmotivated and lethargic. Of course, a little coffee will fix that problem (haha!), but only for a short time. Science also tells us that during times of rest and sleep all of our body’s muscles are allowed to grow, repair, and strengthen.

So, when I’m at the gym pumping iron, exerting myself on the elliptical, swimming laps in the pool, or running on the treadmill am I not strengthening my muscles? While persevering through two years of college courses and straining to help my daughter with Algebra, am I not benefitting my brain? This whole time all I really needed was sleep? Um, no! Don’t we all wish it were that simple! Unfortunately it’s not. Sadly, we must have a combination of both exercise and rest, and truth be told, the majority of us lack in one or both of these areas; we either don’t get enough sleep, don’t get enough exercise, or both.

La Cruz Sinaloa Mexico

Quite a few years ago, after multiple short term trips to Mexico, God called my family back for a five month “missionary” adventure. I was so excited, anticipating the opportunity to serve, minister, teach, encourage, do anything and everything for God’s kingdom! After all, that’s what we did during the short weeks we spent there previously. The reality of living in Mexico was far from my hopes and expectations. Yes, we were busy studying, teaching, reaching out to others, and sharing the Good News. However, the majority of my time was spent homeschooling my daughter, doing laundry (such a difficult task when you remove American conveniences), cleaning up after my sick son (Mexican parasites), and simply being a mom. I remember questioning “Why do You have me here, Lord? I surely could do all of THIS back home.” Little did I realize it was during this time that God was taking all the things He had taught me years prior and building them up. When I felt as if I were completely ineffective and useless, God was strengthening me in my faith, my beliefs, my relationship with Him; He was walking me higher up that Mountain!

Although we cannot feel, see, or sense our brains and muscles growing and developing at night, we know they are. We can also take comfort in the fact that He is at work in each of us whether we feel it or not, just as He was with me in Mexico. Nevertheless, we must not neglect the importance of both resting in Him and running hard for Him. Just as too much sleep and insignificant exercise leave us lethargic, running hard and neglecting those Red Light Moments will profoundly hinder our growth. What season of life are you in right now? Are you working those muscles, pushing as hard as you can push, letting Him stretch you beyond your capabilities? Or are you resting and allowing God to strengthen and rebuild?

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven… a time to break down, and a time to build up.

-Ecclesiastes 3:1,3

A Thankful Heart

Do you have a favorite book of the bible? A favorite scripture passage maybe? I do, but they seem to be constantly changing. However, one of the Psalms I continually go back to and reflect upon is Psalm 95. I just love to read the praises of God; to be reminded that He is a great God, the King above all gods, the Creator of everything we see; that He is my God. These reminders encourage me to be grateful on this Thanksgiving Day. These truths stir my spirit to worship Him, to kneel before the LORD my Maker!

There is also a warning within this Psalm that I must heed: the hardness of my heart. Oh, I can look back and see so many Thanksgivings I spent being anything but thankful. How I sulked and moped about, ruining not only my Thanksgiving but that of my family. I remember the year I defrosted the turkey incorrectly, leaving it inedible, forcing my hubby to go in search of another one Thanksgiving morning. Have you ever tried to find a store open Thanksgiving Day in Douglas County? It's no easy task! I recall being so stressed and grouchy no one wanted to even be around me. Who wants to spend Thanksgiving Day with an unthankful, cantankerous wife and mother? Not my family!

The last half of Psalm 95 speaks of those who have seen the works of the Lord, yet during times of trials and difficulties refuse to remember those works, refuse to choose to worship God with a thankful heart, refuse to enter the rest He beckons us into. I know that I am not alone and that we all have burdens this morning. Today I am afflicted with thoughts of spending the holidays without my gramma, with tension about financial stresses, with worry that this day may not turn out to be the best Thanksgiving Day ever. Today I am busy. BUT... I am choosing to remember who God is. I am choosing to shout joyfully to Him. I am choosing to come before Him with thanksgiving. Today I choose to set my eyes on my King! On this Thanksgiving Day, I choose to hear His voice and rest in Him.

Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!

Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

For the LORD is the great God,

And the great King above all gods.

In His hand are the deep places of the earth;

The heights of the hills are His also.

The sea is His, for He made it;

And His hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture,

And the sheep of His hand.

Today, if you will hear His voice:

"Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

When your fathers tested Me;

They tried Me, though they saw My work.

For forty years I was grieved with that generation,

And said, 'It is a people who go astray in their hearts,

And they do not know My ways.'

So I swore in My wrath,

'They shall not enter My rest.' "

~Psalm 95