Doing things differently: Do you need to learn to trust God again?

Sundays are God's days.

By that I mean, God created all days, but Sunday is the first day of the week and therefore set aside for him.

Today my pastor preached a money sermon. Oh, how I love money sermons! Just kidding.

I could see that it was helpful to the hearers wanting to learn about the spiritual benefits of the tithe. Since that's already something I practice, I asked the Lord to help me apply the basics of the message to an area of my life. It was easy...

                                  Time is the most precious commodity to me.

It always has been, but now that illness and healing takes up so much of it, I find myself becoming gluttonous. Just picture me with my arms and legs wrapped around a giant clock.

That's right. Just like with money, we can hoard and protect our time. We can become stingy, guarding it and hiding ourselves away.

                            I find that I have to learn to trust God all over again.

Sad, but true.

So during today's sermon I asked myself: What can I do differently?

How can I be a good steward of my diminished time?

                  I know the first part of the answer is to give him the first part of my time.

Just like my financial tithe, I've got to give him this first day and pray that he'll bless the rest of my week.

The pictures below remind me of how he's answered one of my constant prayers. For years, I'd sit out on my front porch and complain to him. "Lord, it'd be a good day, if at the end of it, I could sit here and see the sunset. But I can't because there's a stupid house blocking my view."

No kidding. Every day, I'd sit there and say the same thing. I just wanted to have a clear and unobstructed view of the sun going down.

Last year it dawned on me that he'd answered my complaining prayer, years later, in a way I couldn't imagine...

Every day at 5:30, I go out on the porch and take a picture of the sun going down. My husband laughs at me and tells me it's the same view every day, but I think he's wrong.

So I've decided to lean in to God, especially on Sundays, and pray for his blessing on the rest of my week. I hope somehow, that I can take a picture of my answered prayer.

               What about you? Do you need to trust him in an area of your life?

Perfect Power

Chronic pain can damage a person's mental health; it can mess with our minds. It can also change the way we feel about ourselves. I ran across a journal entry I'd written in early April of this year. I was trying to tell the truth to myself...

I am uncomfortable with my own weakness.

                                             God is helping me get over myself.

He reminded me through scripture, of the words Jesus spoke to the apostle Paul: But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
                                                                                                                 2 Corinthians 12:9

Those words remind me of this picture.

Where I live, we have these gorgeous, mighty oak trees. They can - and do - withstand hurricane force winds at times. And delicately hanging on them, are flouncy tufts of Spanish Moss.

These wispy and "weak" plants use the tree for support.

                                                     They hang in there, so to speak.

So just remember, when you're doing your best to hang on and feel at your weakest, God is your support.  His power is made perfect.
                                                                                         He is faithful and wonderful!

Our Advocate

If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
                                                                                                                   John 14:15-17
                                                                Advocate.

The father has given us an advocate: A helper, champion, supporter... upholder.

How wonderful our Father God is to his children! I feel especially led to praise him today because the Holy Spirit, our advocate, led me to another advocate. The person he led me to is a health care provider. She's a woman who cares deeply about her patients and is also a believer and a fighter. She's been helping me and my family get to the root causes of our illnesses.

Because of the Holy Spirit's leading me to her, I've led others to her and now I can advocate on my own behalf.

            I've discovered that I'm sick.

I've been feeling sick for awhile and with this woman's help, I've found the source of my illness. This is a good thing because I'm a fighter too, and if I continued in my "Erika way" I'd have run myself into the ground instead of resting, which is what I need to do.

So even though I'm upset about my condition and the length of time it's going to take to recover, I'm grateful to God for his guidance.

Do you have the Holy Spirit in your life? Can you call him your helper?

       Jesus is the way to life in the spirit.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5