Meal to a friend + Day 3

Yesterday I was blessed to take a meal to a friend who had surgery.  It's been a while since I have been able to do this, a lot of the times the meal trains can be taken up quickly or we are out of town, and even more honest- my fatigue can be so hard that it's all I can do take care of the bare necessities around my home.  Thankfully, God has given me a stronger immune system and more days of energy than not.
I have been able to let go of making meals100% homemade, which give me time to slow down and intentionally pray as I make it and not get all Martha about it.  I get to be Mary - as the whole chicken cooked, I could pray specifically, as the chicken stock was made - I could write a handmade letter, I was able to cook the rice with the chicken stock and pray that this nutritious food healed this mom and help it nourish her healing body.  Buying muffins and yogurt for their breakfast and ice cream for dessert helped me focus on the details of what to pack and prayers instead of making homemade muffins/dessert and feeling overwhelmed. Their son was thrilled when he saw the ice cream- I asked do you guys like ice cream?  He replied, 'who doesn't like ice cream?'  Ha!  Very true!
Yesterday I focused on Psalm 25.  It's a psalm that God placed on my heart in March when praying about our family's postition at co -op.  This Psalm is still with me as we prepare of our upcoming year.  Our current trial, and all the trials to come.  It sums up our need for God, His paths/ways -Hebrew word for path refers to ruts made by wagon wheels passing over the same ground often, God is consistent in His path/ways stemming from His holy nature (Bible.org Steven Cole), trusting in His time, and that God brings us trials, so we go to Him and realize how much we truly need Him.  I would love to say how calm I remained when I received a phone call and how the Lord had already warned me what I was going to find out.  I still chose to be frustrated but knowing it could take away the joy I had spending a quiet day at home with my son and cooking and praying, it ended quicker, and I spiraled less.  We have a choice in every moment to trust, but our humanness and need for justice can tempt us to prove something so we result to raised voices, accusations, slander, and/or gossip.  God's word reminds us how He will provide justice, and that includes all of us who are not being honest and obeying with a steadfast heart.

We are living in a time where everyone has something to say and its harder to listen because we are preparing a rebuttal.  The closer we stay to God and His word, the less we have to filter what we hear and what to do with it.  We will be quicker to know that this does not align with what God said.  The bible is Gods living word- which means we are called to action.  Have you ever read His word and felt inspired to do something, but then you go to work and are distracted and later that day you are too tired to take it seriously?  When that happens, we have missed that opportunity to make God visible to ourselves and others.

"Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.  For the Lord loves justice, he will not forsake his saints.  They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.  The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever."  Psalm 37:27-29

God will give us endurance when we ask and rely on Him.  Every trial and every time we read the Bible and every time we go out in the name of God, we will have many roadblocks.  The word no, sickness, lack of funding, and maybe this is something that will cause us to step out on our own- are all easy ways to give up. Do we have what it takes to be like Noah? Like Paul?  Like John the Baptist?  Noah probably seemed insane to his community.  Until it started raining.  I for one get frustrated at roadblocks and am quick to measure the wind and call it a roadblock.  I can feel silly at some things that have come to mind when reading the Bible, and I begin to second guess the idea.  These are times I am missing out on blessing others and my relationship with God is affected and He doesn't get the Glory He deserves.  God is so patient with us, and He doesn't have to be.  Sometimes I wonder, if I keep dismissing Him, I'm showing I don't trust Him so if He seems quiet to me, it's probably because He can't trust me.

Praying for wisdom, grace, truth, love, and endurance as we continue on our journey of trusting God more and living out His word.