Meditating on the Lord

The Reality of God’s Presence

Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

If the Lord’s presence doesn’t seem real to us, it is not He who has become less real, but we. The spiritual warfare we must do at that point is not to bring Him back, but to bring ourselves back to the ever-present reality of Him. It is to come back to a place of faith and trust from the unreality of doubt and fear.

. . . be satisfied with your present circumstances . . . ; for God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down (relax My hold on you)! Assuredly not! So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm (I will not fear or dread or be terrified). What can man do to me? (Hebrews 13:5, 6, Amplified).

This is not something we can do in our own strength. We cannot bring ourselves back to reality. We can only admit our complete dependence upon God and come to Him.

The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty . . . having such a sense of absolute futility that we finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” (Matthew 5:11) (Oswald Chambers).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit . . .” (Matthew 5:3).

This week at times the only way I have been able to reach out is through praying in the Spirit. In my own self, I have been completely at a loss. When you don’t know how to pray for yourself, when your perspective is off and you find yourself worrying, let the Holy Spirit pray through you. This is spiritual warfare. God will act on your behalf and restore your perspective. You may have to keep fighting for it the only way we can – by crying out to God like a babbling baby. God’s heart will melt, and He will come to your aid.

Praying in the Spirit

. . . the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (Romans 8:26).

Choose a time of the day, every day (like the shower, in the car, whatever), and begin to practice praying in the Spirit. Let your mind rest and simply focus on continuing to pray in the Spirit continuously for five minutes, ten minutes, or half an hour. Do this daily, and over time you will see how God begins to give you His thoughts about Himself, yourself, and your circumstances.

Praying with Understanding (Meditating on the Word)

We cannot receive life from the Word if we read it and walk away. Hold it before you with these simple steps. They can be done at RHOP or at home, and you can modify the steps so that you can do it while driving, walking, or doing housework.

Choose a verse that is life-giving to you. Or one that you desire more understanding about. Then:

1) Read it
2) Write it
3) Say it
4) Sing it
5) Pray it

Spend as much time as you’d like on each step. When you reach step 5, start over again.

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly . . . as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16).

The Word of Christ will begin to dwell in you richly as you simply do this. You will begin to have manna from heaven not only for yourself but for others as well.

You can meditate on whatever verse(s) you want, but I suggest that you choose a passage and let it be the theme that your heart and mind return to over a period of time (a week or month). Here are a couple of verses that have encouraged me over the past few months:

For you have died, and your new, real life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

For my determined purpose is that I may know Him: that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly (Philippians 3:10).

I do spend some time on other verses as well, but I keep coming back to these. As you spend a longer time on one verse, the Lord will be able to reveal it to your heart more deeply and your thoughts will align themselves more and more to its reality. I’m even finding myself thinking these verses as my own thoughts and then suddenly realizing, “Oh, that’s that verse I’ve been meditating on!”

Free Time? What Free Time?

by Amanda Smith, 1/11/2006

A schedule is key to living a lifestyle of prayer. The reason is simple, if we don’t schedule it, it won’t happen. When we live without a schedule for our free hours, the principle comes into action that ‘what seems most important at that very moment is what we will do’. If we live according to our daily whims and wishes, we live for the moment and for the hour. But, on the other hand, if we focus our time we live with our hearts and lives set on eternity and a future reward, not momentary pleasure. A schedule brings freedom because it sets up a structure for us to operate in.

I love the freedom of a schedule for several reasons:

1. I get to plan my rest. I had thought a schedule would make me work 16 hours of the day, but to the contrary. I get to plan rest, time to hang out with friends, and even open hours when nothing is scheduled. My body and mind need rest, and with a schedule I find that I take better care of myself than without one.
2. I have a structure to return to. When I do deviate from my schedule, for whatever reason, I love to have a structure to return to. I check my schedule, see that it is my time to study the book of Isaiah or cook dinner or whatever, and I move on to doing so. I don’t spend time wondering what I should do, or sitting around doing nothing, because all of my time is designated for a purpose.
3. It’s not cast in stone. Occasionally you will find yourself updating your schedule in little areas. Every month you should reevaluate the entire thing. Are you following the schedule? What have you scheduled for too short or too long or at a bad time? Do you need more sleep or less?
4. I am pursuing my goals. A schedule allows me to choose my goals and to choose how I will reach those goals. I can decide if I want to learn a musical instrument, study a certain book of the Bible, pursue a certain career, or pursue certain friendships. I don’t live for the moment, I live for what I want to achieve in 1 year, 10 years and this lifetime!
5. I don’t always follow my schedule. I know that in general I will follow my schedule 80% of the time. Things change, I plan poorly and for whatever reason, I deviate from my plan. And, I have the freedom to do so, all in the knowledge that I have set goals and I am working towards reaching them.

So, I encourage you, make a schedule! Even if you only have 3 hours free time a day, set some goals of what you want to achieve, short and long-term, and start designating your time with what you want to do. Begin with the easy things – meal times, sleep times, work or school times and then fill in the rest. A schedule comes together very easily. Finally, find an accountability partner who will keep you on track with following your schedule. You can do it on your own, but partnering with a friend keeps both of you in check and lets you encourage each other.

Removing Distractions, Pt. 2

And those sown on the good (well-adapted) soil are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit – some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some even a hundred times as much (Mark 4:20).

What does a life of “wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ” look like? How can we be ones who “receive and accept and welcome” the Word? Begin asking God how to remove the distractions that choke out the life of the Word in you.

Remember the analogy of a monastery. In my imagined monastery, everything has its purpose. Nothing is wasted. Every activity and thought is useful to draw us closer to God. That doesn’t mean that there is no time for fun and leisure. Simply, everything is submitted to Him and received from His hand. (In the end, we may find that we have more fun, because we don’t have any sense of guilt or entitlement or dullness when we are engaged in our favorite activity!)

Ask God what may need to go. You know what you do that is restful, recreational and life-giving. Those things are good and are God’s gifts to be enjoyed. But you also know what you tend to turn to for escape from life that draws you away from His presence and darkens your perspective. Those things have to go. They will hinder you from being with Him. Being with Him is life, and being away from Him is death. So these are life-and-death choices we are making.

And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God . . . (John 17:3).

One example from my life is books. Reading is one of my favorite ways to relax. During the first month of the year, I fasted reading anything but the Bible. I found that I had so much more time for God when I wasn’t trying to also make time to do what I considered “my” things. I began to wonder: should I keep doing this forever? And yet, I didn’t feel that was what God was calling me to. He desires obedience, not sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). And so, since then, I have cautiously added back in reading books. But I don’t just read whatever I want. I try to stay sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and I don’t make it a priority over spending much more time in the Word and prayer. Reading, for the first time in my life, has its proper place in my life: as a fun addition, but not the focus of my day.

Yesterday, by the time I put the kids down for their naps, I was nearly at my wits’ end. Tired of whining, complaining, and procrastination, my temper was short. I’m sure my children felt it. At that point I felt that I “deserved” to escape into some “me” time. I was tempted to pick up a book and escape for an hour or so. But the Holy Spirit gently drew me to spend time with Him instead. (I had slept late and missed my regular time with Him anyway, which was likely part of the problem.) So I listened to my five chapters of the Bible while putting on my makeup, and then sat down to journal-pray and read My Utmost for His Highest. By the time I was finished, God had restored my perspective, reminding me to lean on Him, to love my children out of His love, and not to rely on my own strength. If I had given in to escapism, would I been refilled with life for my family and myself? No. Instead, I would have made the problem greater by feeling sorry for myself. Instead of going to the Healer, I would have been licking my own wounds. Later I may have the freedom to enjoy a chapter of a good book. Then it will be something I can enjoy with God rather than something I’m using to hide from Him and my life.

There is another distraction that is so universal in our culture that I can hardly ignore it: television. This is an area that must be disciplined if we are to thrive in God. How can we stay focused on Him if we allow the world to set the tone for our home and thought life? I know many who do it in different ways. Each must ask God what it should look like for them. Some get rid of the TV altogether; while others limit the time and types of programs they watch. My family has felt led not to have television reception, while still enjoying DVD’s of movies that we have chosen. When we first made this decision, we didn’t fully comprehend the reasons. We just knew that we felt God calling us to lay this down. Now, over five years after having given up a regular diet of TV, we are still discovering how God is using this to protect and bless us in so many ways.

What is it that distracts your inner life from God’s perspective? Prayerfully consider any changes God may be asking you to make in your lifestyle. I mention my own convictions only as an example of what God has done in my life. It is not to put my particular choices on anyone else, only to encourage you that no matter how impossible, strange or counter-cultural it may seem, once you obey the conviction of the Holy Spirit, you will begin to grow in ways you never imagined. Eventually it will even begin to make sense!

Don't just remove something without replacing it with something else. Fill it with pleasures and joys from God's hand. Let Him be your joy. Good books, good friends, good movies, time with family, etc., are all gifts from His hand when enjoyed in and through Him rather than taken as a right we think we have. Enjoy!

Removing Distractions, Pt. 1

Parable of the Sower

Read Mark 4:3-9, 14-20, in the Amplified Version. (A practical aside: I love using the Amplified Bible during this season of my life. It is a great way for a busy mom to get a “quickie” word study.)

4 Types of Soil (Our Hearts & Minds)

1. Along the path – Lacking comprehension.
2. Full of rocks – Lacking depth. (The wrong rocks were put in first!)
3. Thorns and thistles – Distracted by cares & pleasures (mediocrity).
4. Undistracted & focused, much fruit. (Not mediocre! This one stands out!!)

Let us listen and hear (v. 9). Jesus wants us to pay attention (v. 3). If He is putting so much emphasis on this, He must intend for us to consider and apply it to our lives.

We’ve spent the last few weeks on #2. We have been learning to put the big rocks in first, focusing our lives around God rather than trying to fit God into the cracks and crevices. We are starting to grow in depth. Now we need to be aware of #3. This is, I believe, the greatest reason why so many believers live in mediocrity. We love the Lord, we read the Bible, and we may even pray regularly. But we are distracted by

. . . the cares and anxieties of the world and the distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things . . .

We allow these things to

. . . creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless (v. 19).

It is a constant battle to keep the cares and distractions from creeping in. The “desire for other things” especially catches my attention. There are so many choices, so many pursuits, so many ways to spend our time and energy. No matter how good we get at the spiritual disciplines, if we continue to allow these things to creep in, it will all be for nothing. We may enjoy a measure of peace and victory over sin, but is that really all we want? There is so much more to us than that! There is a longing deep inside for so much more. We are the beloved of God.

. . . for I have betrothed you to one Husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am fearful, lest that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2, 3).

But there is hope! God is able to do in us what we cannot do:

The Lord sat as King over the deluge; the Lord sits as King forever! The Lord will give unyielding and impenetrable strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace (Psalm 29:10-11).

The Lord sits over the deluge of distractions that are daily offered to us. He will give us strength. He will enable us to live in peace with our hearts and minds focused on Him.

Focus (Discipline) Your Mind

Now that you have a structure, consider what you are doing with “dead” time? When you are in the car, doing dishes, or folding laundry, are you worrying about the problems of your life, or are you redeeming the time? If you find that these are not life-giving times for you, seek God as to how to make it so. He doesn’t take a break; He is ready to fill us at every moment that we ask.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it (Psalm 81:10).

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

One thing that I do is listen to the Bible, podcasts from IHOP, sermon CD’s, or worship music. This is not to have it playing in the background, but to really focus my mind on it. Learning to discipline my mind, wash my mind, in the Word and in God’s perspective. I find that it doesn’t so much matter what it is I’m listening to (as long as it’s Biblical, of course), as it matters that it is taking my mind off of myself and on to God.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV).

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word (Ephesians 5:25-26, NIV).

Another suggestion is to use that time to meditate on a scripture. Choose a scripture at the beginning of the day, or week. Ask God to bring one to your attention during your quiet time. Every time you find your mind beginning to wander or worry, recall it to that scripture. Write it down. Read it. Repeat it to yourself aloud. Sing it. Pray it. Then start over again. Allow God to penetrate your mind and emotions with the truth of it. Let it become life to you.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, NIV).

Structure and Set-aside Times

Who is this who comes up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? (Song of Songs 8:5).

Now, let’s get to the practical stuff. How do I live a lifestyle of leaning on my Beloved? I have the desire, but something needs to change. I have to live differently if I want to see Him live and move in my life and family. The first thing I want to suggest is having what I call set-aside times. Here is an excerpt from my blog earlier this year:

What I keep hearing today is that the work of life -- the laundry, etc. -- has to be done, but it's not what I was made for. So while I need to get it done, I don't need to structure my life around it. Instead, I need to schedule it around my life! I am made to be a worshipper. So the very first priority of my day is to spend time with God, and then everything else. Even in caring for my children, my first priority is to teach them to worship God. If these are truly my priorities, then that should be reflected in my everyday schedule.

So today I changed around my schedule to make room for going to RHOP more often. Also, I let the girls get up earlier so we could have worship time together while I fed Cedar. We read from Jesus Wants All of Me, which is the kids' version of My Utmost for His Highest. Then we read Matthew 6:33, 34. I told them about how God takes care of us. (I needed to hear that today too, as our financial situation is a bit strained this month.) We prayed together and sang a made-up song about God taking care of us. Then they read books on my bed and we listened to the Bible on CD while I finished feeding Cedar. After that, we got dressed, ate breakfast, I checked my email and put in some laundry, and we went to RHOP. I refused to let myself stress about how everything else will get done. Today we've put the most important things first. God will take care of the rest.

So first of all, write down your schedule. How do you actually live your days? Not how you wish you were living, but what you really do with your time. Be honest and unashamed. This is between you and God, and He already knows better than you what you do with your time.

Now, set that aside for a moment and pull out your Excel spreadsheet. You are going to begin to structure your life. Put in the “big rocks” first, and the little things will fit in around the edges. First, put in your set-aside times for God. Perhaps a bit of time in the morning before the kids wake up, or during nap time. Then add in the givens, such as meal times and nap times. Put down any family time, date night with husband, Bible study times, etc. Now fit in the other things, like chores, free time, and other activities. I have provided my schedule as an example. Keep in mind, my life rarely looks exactly this way. But this structure allows me to relax, knowing that there is room for everything. Each day I submit it to God for any changes and to add, move or subtract anything that needs to be modified to flow with His plan for my day and week.

Focusing Our Vision

I want to be very clear what this group is and is not about. What it is not about is our individual lifestyle choices or parenting styles. This is not a time to compare with one other in any way. What it is about is our heart’s desire to pursue God and encouraging each other as we do so. Of course, as we share we will be tempted to compare ourselves with each other. But we must not. We must protect each other and allow ourselves to be under protection. We must each live according to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Only He knows our hearts, our families, our kids, and our husbands. Only He can speak life into our individual situations. Let us be careful not to get in God’s way as He deals with our hearts.

Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but in the spiritual realm nothing is accomplished by it. The effect of criticism is the dividing up of the strengths of the one being criticized. The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and he alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, entry for June 17).

When I began this year, I felt quite a bit of hopelessness. I desired more of God and yet felt hindered by my family responsibilities. I had no idea how to live differently. All I could see ahead of me was years of resigning myself to live for my family and ignoring my heart. But I cried out to God. And He has begun to answer! The result is life, life and more life to me and my family.

I have so much to learn. I am only beginning this journey. But what I have is a passion and, I believe, a responsibility before God to initiate conversation with other moms, that we may encourage each other in our pursuit of Him. To cry out together in the midst of our specific situations for Him to begin to show up, to move in our lives, and to see Him change us. Nothing I can say will change your life. I don’t have life for you, but God does! I can share what God has shown me. But I have no desire to make it a rule for you or even for myself. The whole point is that we each pursue God and His design for how we are to live our individual lives and minister to our individual families. If there is something God has shown me that quickens your heart with excitement, then by all means try it! If someone else shares an insight or resource God has given them, and God whispers, “This is for you,” then take advantage of it. But do not be condemned for being different. You are the Lord’s beloved, and He will be faithful to guide you in the path He has lovingly designed for you. Be free to run the race with Him!

The biggest thing that God is teaching me is to live with focus. That entails knowing what I am focusing on. As I asked God how to live differently, a concept welled up in my heart that I could hardly express in words. So, as I sometimes do when overwhelmed with emotion and unable to clearly express my heart, I wrote it down as a short poem:

A New Vision

A family of God
Loving
Worshiping daily
An atmosphere of invitation
Presence
Anything can happen
What next, God?
We're listening for Your footsteps
To be with You
Now

This is revolutionary for me. The focus of my home is not to be the kids, myself, my husband, the chores, or anything else. Our entire purpose and desire is to seek God. How do we live that out? That is my daily quest. My heart’s cry before God is that He would reveal Himself more and more in our days and teach me how to welcome His presence into our lives at every moment. Picture a monastery. Everyone who lives there has one purpose: to seek God. They work, play, interact, sleep, eat, worship, study … they live their lives in the presence of God. If they can dedicate their lives to seeking God in a monastery, why can we not do the same in our homes? Picture your family members as fellow members of the monastery. You minister with and to each other, but it is all with one end in mind: to know God. It is a complete paradigm shift. We are not living for our own pleasure or self-fulfillment. We are not primarily living to please our husbands or children. We are living to seek God’s heart. And from that place flows everything else: all of our words, thoughts, and actions. We will love each other from that place. We will be able to give more of ourselves that we’d ever dreamed possible, because we are coming from a place of complete weakness in ourselves but total reliance on God’s strength. Are we perfect? Of course not, but we are learning to lean on our Beloved.

Narrow Your Focus

Read Luke 11:9, “. . . seek, and you will find. . . .” and James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss . . . .”

“If you ask for things from life instead of from God, ‘you ask amiss’; that is, you ask out of your desire for self-fulfillment. The more you fulfill yourself the less you will seek God. ‘. . . seek, and you will find. . .’ (Luke 11:9). . . . narrow your focus and interests to this one thing. Have you ever sought God with your whole heart, or have you simply given Him a feeble cry after some emotionally painful experience? ‘. . . seek, [focus,] and you will find. . .’” (My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, entry for June10).

How can we focus our lives on seeking God? As moms, in the midst of the busyness of life, what can we do?

“To penetrate deeper in the experience of Jesus Christ, it is required that you begin to abandon your whole existence, giving it up to God. . . . You must utterly believe that the circumstances of your life, as well as the whole course of your life – anything, yes, everything that happens – have all come to you by His will and by His permission. You must utterly believe that everything that has happened to you is from God and is exactly what you need” (Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Jeanne Guyon, p. 32).

We must learn to be grateful in every situation. Whether or not we feel like it. Whether or not we like it.

Last Monday, I was looking forward to coming to RHOP. It has become sacred time in our family. Other things may come and go, but coming at least once a week is essential for me. I look forward to my date with Jesus. A little after 10am, we were ready and getting into the car. The house was clean (amazing!), the kids fed and dressed, and we were going to be only a few minutes late to RHOP. As I was getting the kids into their car seats, I noticed that Rayne’s was crooked. It wasn’t installed correctly! Half an hour later, it was down tight and we were finally ready to leave for RHOP.

Normally this situation would have caused a breakdown in my patience and a rising of self-pity and despair. “What is the point of even going now? I’m only going to be there an hour! I was looking forward to two hours!! My measly two hours a week, and I wish I had much more!” But as we had been going to the car, Rayne had asked me, “Why are we going to RHOP, Mommy?” She often asks this, but this time the Holy Spirit must have known I needed to hear the answer, because I not only answered her then with my standard answer, “We’re going to worship Jesus,” but I continued to answer her over the next half hour. As I was buckling her in (and starting to realize something was wrong with the seat), I added that we can also worship Jesus by having a good attitude and a happy heart. Gritting my teeth, I took a deep breath and chose to find out what God had for me in this circumstance. After all, I was going to RHOP to spend time with Him. Who was I to complain if He wanted me to spend part of that time with Him fixing the car seat instead? As I continued to tighten the car seat down (it took me three times of starting over to do it), I continued to tell her that we worship Jesus by being grateful all the time, even when things happen that we don’t like. I don’t know if she understood me, but my heart heard it. When, at 10:40, we were finally on our way to RHOP, I was truly grateful (at least, mostly) that I was still going to have some time there and that God had kept Rayne safe by bringing the problem with her car seat to my attention. My kids had a mommy who was still at peace, not frazzled and impatient. And I felt that God had won a small (for me, major) victory in me that day.

“Does it really matter that our circumstances are difficult? Why shouldn’t they be? If we give way to self-pity and indulge in the luxury of misery, we remove God’s riches from our lives and hinder others from entering into His provision. . . . self-pity . . . removes God from the throne of our lives, replacing Him with our own self-interests. It causes us to open our mouths only to complain, and we simply become spiritual sponges – always absorbing, never giving, and never being satisfied. . . .

“. . . learn to lavish the grace of God on others, generously giving of yourself. Be marked and identified with God’s nature, and His blessing will flow through you all the time” (My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, entry for May 16).

This is what I want to learn: to "be marked and identified with God's nature" so that "His blessing will flow through me all the time." In every circumstance, to ask Him, "What do you have in this for me right now?" Even when the kids are whining, my husband is being hard to get along with, and I am out of sorts.

"Come to Me . . ." (Matthew 11:28)

“If I will simply come to Jesus, my real life will be brought into harmony with my real desires . . . . At the most unexpected moments in your life there is this whisper of the Lord – ‘Come to Me,’ and you are immediately drawn to Him. Personal contact with Jesus changes everything. Be ‘foolish’ enough to come and commit yourself to what He says” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest).

Have you heard that whisper? In a quiet moment, when your heart can be heard, do you hear the longing of your soul saying, “I want to; how desperately I long to come to you!” Listen. It is God’s invitation to you. Let nothing hold you back. He will show you how to run with Him, leaping over every obstacle. You need only come to Him in your weakness and inability, and ask. Hold up your arms and cry, “Help me!” And He will pick you up like a little child and carry you. He will teach you to walk, then to run and leap with Him.

“. . . there is no circumstance of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. ‘We will come to him and make Our home with him’ (John 14:23). Put no conditions on your life – let Jesus be everything to you . . .” (Oswald Chambers, emphasis added).

When you do, He will invade your life! Eternity is being with Him. We don't have to wait for Heaven! We can learn to know His presence at every moment, starting now.

Desire

Lord, it is so difficult for us as moms to commit to anything for ourselves. Give us a holy determination to push through every obstacle. Begin to transform our perspective. Show us how much more You have for us, even today.

I have felt God call my heart to deeper intimacy. As a wife and mother, I felt that this was not practical for me at this time in my life. Having a short devotional time in the morning was often more than I could manage. So, for a couple of years, I tried to tell my heart to wait until my children are older. Finally, I could no longer stand it. In desperation, I cried out to God to show me how I can pursue Him even now. In His great love and grace, He has been providing tools and ideas to make it possible. I would like to share these with you.

I have talked with other moms who tell me that they feel the same way. One mom shared that God showed her that her children are like weights strapped to her arms and legs. She cried out to God, how do you expect me to run the race with so much to carry? He told her that she would not run fast, but she would become strong. So this is for any mom who, like me, needs the encouragement of others on this race (sometimes it feels like an obstacle course!) of godly motherhood.

I love this quote from Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Jeanne Guyon:

“. . . you may feel that you simply are not one of those people capable of a deep experience with Jesus Christ. Most Christians do not feel that they have been called to a deep, inward relationship to their Lord. But we have all been called to the depths of Christ just as surely as we have been called to salvation.

If all have been called, then that includes moms. I believe that mothers do not have to wait until their children are grown to pursue God in a deeper way. Let us encourage each other so that we will not grow weary on this journey alone.