Quiet times

Sometimes we have a tendency to try to find a formula to get to God. Or think that we need to be religious in our prayer life. Praying with the old thee's and thou's but what God wants from us is to be real with Him. Listen to this from Matthew 6: Here's what I want you to do: find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace. With all the hustle and bustle of daily life, the holidays, kids and everything else; this is a challenge. But I have found personally that these are some of the most rewarding, sweet moments in my relationship with God. I know it's hard to do this, but make the effort and watch God show up

Musings

It has been such a hectic last few months with the holidays and the adoption and everything else that has been going on. It has been good to get back to some sort of normalcy. I normally try to read the bible through intentionally every year. Sometimes I try to read the NT twice through. This morning I was reading Matthew. No, I didn't start in Matthew, I am actually ending with Matthew this year. But I came to Matthew 5 and couldn't go any further. The first few verses jumped off the page. I am reading the Message this time through and here is what it says; "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule. You're blessed when you feel you have lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.." There is only one more day left in this year. When I look back I see a lot of accomplishments, but I also see a lot of things left undone. There have been those moments when I felt like I was at the end of my rope, there have been those days when I felt like I was losing those things dearest to me, there have been days when I looked in the mirror and wondered if I really liked who I saw there looking back at me. If we are honest I think most of us struggle with these thoughts at times. But according to God's Word, that is the point where blessings can occur.