~ Devoting Myself to Prayer ~

Good morning! 

I know my blog has been rather silent over the last week and it's by no accident. I developed a stomach virus early last week and I was down again!  Shew! I do believe that I have a magnet for viruses this year and I even asked my doctor the other day for a giant bubble that I could inhabit for a while to get a reprieve from illness. Lol! But can you believe that there are no such things? In this day and age when we can cure certain forms of cancer, transfer someone else's bodily organs into another human being, and even use pig valves to keep a human's heart pumping, we have not yet invented a protective barrier to keep people from getting sick. I guess we are not as far advanced as I thought. Haha!

As I was healing through this latest illness, I felt The Lord calling me to a time of prayer and study without the distractions from things such as social media. So, I took some time and fasted from certain areas of my life for several days to focus all attention on the One I most adore! 

"Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart."

Colossians 4:2 (NLT)

In trying to remain transparent here, I have to admit it hasn't all been sweet fellowship. I've, ashamedly, had my moments of whining and complaining and bearing my soul asking God for a time of "smooth sailing". You know what I mean here? A time when all my trials and challenges can just go away, I can breathe easily, and life is that fairy tale we see in a beautiful Disney classic. Yes, yes, I know. Sounds pitiful and pathetic, huh? That is why I am the child and HE is my Father!

Oh, how thankful I am for my God! He loves me in spite of my pathetic, complaining self and does so without hesitating. In my conversations and study with him, he has comforted my soul and shown me that though life is hard, He is all I need to get through. He has reminded me that by allowing the difficulty of those trials and challenges to outweigh the lesson in the midst of them, it has clouded my view. There is so much he wants me to get out of these situations. This verse was such a wake up call to me this morning:

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Romans 12:12 NIV)

It was as if those words jumped off the pages of scripture this morning right into my soul! 

I was forgetting to focus on the joy of my hope in him! I am to be patient in theses times of trial! I am to remain faithful in prayer to my God! 

My dear friends, THAT is why HE is GOD and I am NOT!

So, today my focus is regained in the beauty of this journey! I don't have to love the trial but I sure do love my God in the midst of this trial! 

He is all I need! He is all I want! My God forevermore!