November 2013
Dear friends,
November is the month we are supposed to be thankful. Maybe for a month we can have a heart of gratitude, a heart full of rejoicing in the Lord.
But what about when my world feels like a whirlwind of a million challenges gaining momentum and threatening to take me out. Am I to be thankful for that too?
The distractions have been full force for the last month and I am tired, dog tired. You know the days you want to quit, quit everything? That’s how I feel. Done. Done with responsibilities, decisions, money and people. And we have to go hang out with family next week, people who don’t understand us and people we don’t understand. Argh.
My circumstances are getting on my nerves. That elusive “why” keeps popping into my head and I keep trying to push it down, trying to ignore it.
Today God showed me what has happened. I have derailed and my train has been running crazy off its track, out of control and headed who knows where. Somewhere in the last few weeks, I have left God’s path for me and gone on some abandoned side road. And it has been bad.
My mind has been focusing on the wrong things … my energy level, the amount of money in the bank, the stuff, work demands, the hurts of my kids, situations I cannot control or fix, the future.
“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
My mind will not stop. The lists are running in my mind of what needs to happen in ten different areas. My phone is where I try to dump all these details into running lists to have an empty brain for just a moment. God is always challenging my thinking. He is a dream giver and I love that about Him.
“However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” – 1 Corinthians 2:9
But, my weakness is getting in the way, thinking of what’s ahead instead of walking with Him in the right now. I want Him to order my steps, but sometimes I find myself running like a wild stallion instead of lying down in green pastures. I say yes when I should have said no or I say no when I should have said yes. I think about tomorrow instead of praising Him for today.
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” – Ephesians 5:15-17
Walking with Jesus, making the best use of time and understanding the Lord’s will seem so easy when we read the challenge, but living out those verses is entirely different.
To walk with Jesus is to do everything He has for us, not what we have for ourselves. To walk is to take one step and then the next step, not to run ahead of Jesus, but to stay right there with Him, trusting Him for the next moment.
Does He want us to rise early or sleep late? go out to dinner or eat leftovers?
read leisurely or clean the house? work more or work less? talk to friends or talk to Him? spend time in activity or stillness? give or take? listen or share? eat or fast?
To make the best use of our time is to ask Jesus what the best use of our time is. What we all need is different and our time is called to be spent on different things. Some of us need rest and some of us need to serve. Others need family time while others must work a second job. WE try to determine how to use our time instead of asking and looking for where the Lord wants us to walk.
What is His will for us?
Let’s think about it, soak that in and consider how that may change everything.
In a huge way, I want His will for us to change everything.
His will for our money.
His will for our time.
His will for our families. His will for us to love all the people in our families. His will for our careers.
His will for our circumstances. His will for our pain.
His will for our rest.
His will for a thankful heart.
His will for everything.
And then, by God’s grace let’s quit spending so much time trying to figure out God’s will and just do it.
When we are weak, He is strong and we can be thankful for that truth 365 days a year, Jenny Waltman