Sunday, August 28, 2016

Time Crunches.....

Well it has been awhile since I have written. There has been a lot going on.  How about you? Is your life busy, swimming with things you need to do? Things you want to do, obligations and ministry too. I do not always handle the time crunches very well.  I am an aide, a paraprofessional at an elementary and the kids are back. We are trying to find that pattern of daily normality. It will come quickly but, it is tiring. Still I love it.  The trouble is that, wait, it's not trouble. I should say additionally. Funny how we say things. Anyway, additionally I start back to college, math, this coming week. Well it isn't college math yet. It is the final prerequisite for college algebra.

I am trying to prepare myself for the time crunches that lie ahead. So how am I doing that you ask.

First, prayer. Surely you know that anything we set our hearts and minds to do must begin with prayer. So I have prayed and will continue to pray about using my time wisely. Then I will also be putting together a schedule. I will pray over that schedule as well. Last year one of the girls I work with laughed when she realized how many alarms I have on my phone. I laughed with her. But the truth is that when I make a commitment to someone or something, including the Father and to myself, I don't want to be late, nor do I just want to be on time. Alarms help me to be a little early.

Come to think of it prayer is a sort of alarm for me. Yes I have an alarm set to remind me to pray at certain times of the day. Still the act of prayer it's self is like an alarm. For as I pray the Lord brings to mind things He desires for me to consider, confess, and commit to. Yes prayer is so very vital. I do try to make it the first thing that I ever do.

Some of you may have noticed that I have been out of sorts for awhile. Well I am working myself  back into sorts. Guess what has been the main ingredient? Yep, prayer. Even when I didn't feel like it or when I thought that God wasn't listening (He was by the way). Prayer during this time has surely been an alarm. For when I would set down to prayer, or stand up for prayer, or walk or run for prayer, whether I could hear the Lord or not, it was always setting alarms off.

Examples: My prayers aren't making sense, I can't concentrate, they are just jumbles, aaaggghhh! This is an alarm that I need to open my bible to psalms and start praying out loud or writing down these psalms making them my own.

When they were hitting the ceiling and it felt like God wasn't listening. This was an alarm to begin confessing things to the Lord. If I am convinced that I have nothing major to confess, then I start with the little things. "Father forgive me that I didn't want to get out of bed this morning." or "Father, I am sorry for telling the boss I didn't know who left the mess in the employees lounge when I did."  "Father I know I should not have read that book or watched that movie." "Father I am sorry I don't like that person." "Father I hollered at the kids today or I spent money I shouldn't." See there are lots of little things to confess. Then when you have done all that you can recall, thank Him for listening and for reminding you that you are in need of forgiveness daily, multiple times a day. Then thank Him for His forgiveness and for His great gift of salvation.

When I don't have time. Ooh, big alarm. I make time. I stop and begin to praise Him and rejoice that He loves me and desires this time with me.


So these are just a few examples of alarm prayers. You may have your own.  So, don't forget to bathe everything in prayer. For me this morning I am going to get back to my prayers. I have a big week ahead. I bet you do too.

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