Dryspell

Everything I have written prior I have clearly felt on my heart. I have never sat and thought about what I should write, I always have woken up with it clearly on my mind.

But its been a week and I haven't had anything to say! 

And I'm pretty sure I know why too. I haven't felt as close to God as I normally do this last week. My Faith is still strong, but I haven't felt as connected as I normally do. I know that Faith isn't all about feelings, but when I am spending time with God I do feel connected to him and it is the best feeling. 

I have been busy at work and tired at night and haven't been getting up early and have really neglected my time spent with God, praying and reading his word. 

I have found to stay preciously strong in my relationship with God it is a daily thing. Just as you have to take a shower each day to stay clean. What if you didn't brush your teeth but once every 3 days? Your mouth would get all junked up and nasty and stinky.

And look at how often we eat. At least 2 or three times a day we feed our stomach. Spending time with God is food for our soul. The more we feed our spirit the stronger it becomes.

On Sunday night I became overwhelmed for a moment with a few things. One of them being the thought of a really huge project starting at work. (How funny that my last post spoke of how easy things have been for the last 10 months!) And the other was simply my messy house. It was a mess again and my bedroom especially was a disaster zone and I was tired and didn't have the energy to clean. And there were a couple of other little things and I actually started to cry.

So I got down on my knees to pray because God tells us :

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every thing, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

(I learned this one well in the days I was battling anxiety!)

And another thing I prayed after I went over the things that were bothering me was that I have been stuck in the old testament. I love the Psalms. They are so poetic and beautiful and full of such awesome promises. But I find lately thats all I feel like reading. I haven't even felt like reading the gospels, which are all about and contain the words of Jesus, and he especially should be our focus!

So after I prayed I felt better. I thought about how helpful everyone at work is being with this crazy project, and I am just going to trust that God will make a way for me to continue to be home at night with my precious little family.

And I had renewed energy and started cleaning. First I straightened up the house and then I tackled my bedroom. And when I was almost done I found a book under my bed that I love and haven't thought of in a long time.

Its called Praying the names of Jesus! It is a daily devotional that goes through the different names of Jesus and includes scripture related to them and ways to pray through them. I put on my pj's and my cozy christmas lights I read by and had some awesome precious time with my God before going to sleep.

The first week focuses on the name Emmanuel and how it means 'God with us'. And in that first day was this verse, which I had just noticed and loved and underlined in my bible the day before:

Psalm 139:7-10 

 ⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? 
       Where can I flee from your presence?

 ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; 
       if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

 ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 
       if I settle on the far side of the sea,

 ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, 
       your right hand will hold me fast.

He is there. He is with us. Even if we don't feel like it. Even if we haven't called upon him in a while, he is there, waiting to answer our call!