Wednesday, January 11, 2012

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming...

First of all, pause the song by Needtobreathe on the left hand side of the page and then listen to this song by JJ Heller.



When I am having a rough day, I tend to return to this song. I haven't really listened to it in a year. This time of year - post Christmas - always hits me hard. I am faced with the fact that it is a very long time until Summer, when I can get out and ENJOY the outdoors. The kids are starting to go crazy as well. This week I started feeling sorry for myself. I have really had a fabulous year but I let this selfishness and self-absorbtion sneak up on me. Why? Because I let myself go dry. Because I wasn't standing guard. Because Satan uses the dark every year to stop the work Christ is doing in and through me.

So, today I renew my vow to look outward and not inward. I am praying for God to show me where and who to love. I am praying He will keep me so busy loving that I will not notice the dark, cold, or how long I have to wait for summer.

A passage that I have come back to time and time again for guidance and reassurance is Isaiah 58:8-14. This passage has meant a lot to me over the last four years, as it prompted healing and huge changes in my life. Sometimes when I find myself in a place of "down and out" or in a funk, I return to this passage searching for hope or joy or instruction or anything to move me forward.

Here's what stood out today - and some parts that stand out every time.

8 - Your healing will come quickly. (I need quick healing, Lord!)

9 - Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumors! (I usually get past this verse quickly because I have a major dislike for gossip, having been the object of it many times in the past, and am quite vigilant against it. But today, it was painfully convicting. I have not oppressed anyone that I am aware of, nor have I spread any vicious rumors, but I have participated in what I would consider gossip twice within the last week! I must remain strong in my convictions against this.)

10 - Help those in trouble. (Always praying for God to guide me to them. In general this is where my passion for MOPS comes in, because I was in some serious trouble as a mother of preschoolers and I think many moms out there are struggling.)

Then my favorite part: still verse 10 - Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. (I have a lot of darkness around me. LITERALLY! I recognize when I am a light in the darkness. I need that back.)

13 - Honor the Lord in everything you do, and don't follow your own desires. If you do this, the Lord will be your delight. (Yes, yes, yes!)

Scriptures taken from the New Living Translation.

If you are someone who prays, I can always use it.

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