Sweet Words

I didn’t read my Bible yesterday. Well, actually I did, but not until 11pm at night. So technically I read my Bible, but I went through my whole day without being infused by God’s Word. Not a good idea…

You see, about three and half years ago,  I made the switch {thanks to much prompting by Micah when we were dating}. I stopped making all my “I don’t have time before work/am too tired in the morning/I read better at night” excuses for not meeting with God in the morning, EVERY morning. It was a decision that changed my life. I have never known my Savior so intimately, loved Him so fully, obeyed Him so often, or delighted in Him as much as I have ever since I made the switch to meeting with God at the start of every day. If you haven’t made the switch yet… if reading God’s word is a “when I have a free five minutes/at the end of the day/at best a few days a week” activity for you, may I strongly encourage you to change? It’s so worth it, friend, even if you are tired in the morning or overwhelmed at thinking of the day ahead or in a rush to get to work or get the kids off to school. In fact, the more daunting the day ahead, the more essential it is to start with time in God’s Word. It just might change your life. It did for me.

As I said, yesterday was a mess-up day for me. Not that God loves me any less if I forget to read my Bible… there is grace for the days when it gets pushed aside, but I try to put Him first at all costs. I probably rush out of the house without reading my Bible only a handful of times a year. Maybe two handfuls. But yesterday was one of those days…

I left my house before 7am to substitute teach at a local high school. After work, I stopped by the post office to mail a package and headed to ASU to meet with my professor about my mommy blog paper {which I will be presenting at a conference in Seattle in less than two weeks. Eek. This equates to a constant feeling of stress as I feel unprepared for the conference and the days are ticking away.} After hauling my hot, sweaty, book-laden self all over ASU’s campus, meeting with a couple of students, and thankfully avoiding a parking ticket, even though my meter had long-since expired by the time I got back to my car, I headed home to make dinner. Let’s just say it was one of those nights where I should have just pulled some Trader Joe’s stir-fry out of the freezer and called it good, but instead I decided to try two new recipes. Usually I am a pretty good cook, but last night was not my night. Two hours, one trip to the store for a forgotten ingredient, and a huge mess in my kitchen later {Mental note: read recipes carefully before making them. When it calls for a food processor and you don’t have one, it gets very messy trying to use every other electric kitchen appliance you own to “process” your cauliflower…so much for trying new vegetables!}, I finally sat down to eat alone. Micah called in the midst of my cooking to tell me he was going to be late. The recipes both turned out to be mediocre-bordering-on-gross and half my night was wasted. After cleaning my kitchen, I headed to the coffee shop across the street, which is where I usually spend my Thursday nights studying, but I was too frazzled by this point to really concentrate. I headed home at 10pm hoping that Micah had done the few little chores I had left for him on a list – the main one being to put new sheets on our bed, so that I could fall into it and go to sleep. Micah had not done the chores and had instead gone on a two hour run {marathon training}. While I was glad that he went running, I found myself angry that he didn’t do his chores first. I simmered in this anger as I folded clothes and changed our sheets, even though I was telling myself…. this is life…you are being refined…you should be joyful despite your circumstances. It was a battle of the heart…be mad…have joy…be mad…have joy. Sadly, the mad side won. At least for a while…

Then Micah and I prayed and he asked for forgiveness and suggested we read some Scripture together. He asked me to read James 3 to him about controlling the tongue. Ah, sweet conviction. Micah fell asleep right after listening to the passage, but I found myself yearning. This Bible in front of me. These sweet words. I longed for them. I had not covered my day with God’s Word from the start and now I found myself in bed, tired, convicted, emotional, and feeling a void. I needed to read God’s Word. I read James 3 again slowly and then my heart whispered to me “Psalm 84.” Usually I am not the type of person who just reads any chapter of the Bible that comes to mind. I believe that reading the Bible is most fruitful with a reading plan, but last night was out of the norm. I turned to Psalm 84 and this is what I read…

I longed for Him and He answered me. Through His Word, God comforted me. I cried, just for a minute, because I realized how much I love the Lord and how much I desperately need Him in my life. I need Him to cover my days with His grace, control my mind with His truth, and fill my heart with His love. And he does. He fulfills these needs constantly and upholds me by His strong and steady hands. Thanking God for His sweet words today…

Linking up with Casey…