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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