What Time is it?

 I spent my devotional time this morning walking around Psalm 37. Man, there is so much in that Psalm. I read the whole Psalm and then went back to reread portions of it. There are a lot of solid truths to hold on to and meditate on. I finally landed in verse 39. It says this The Lord saves the godly; He is their fortress in times of trouble. (1996 NLT)

The first part of this verse says that God saves the godly. He preserves them, protects them, and rescues them. But it was the second part of the verse that captured my thoughts this morning. He is their fortress in times of trouble. I read the verse a few times and thought about it for a while. Then, something captured my eye. It didn't say in one time of trouble. The psalmist said, in times of trouble. 

As we work our way through time, we may see many times of trouble. We WILL see times of trouble, no doubt. But He will continue to be our fortress. He continues to be our help. It's an unlimited resource for sure! There is no expiration date, and He didn't set a limit. What if it said He would be our help in three times of difficulty? Maybe He'd say you have five times to visit me as a fortress and protector. I am sure that as caregivers, we would have surpassed our limit long ago!

Instead, God is a perpetual protector. He just keeps being our refuge, our fortress, our strength, and anything else we feel we need every time we need Him! The only catch is - that we have to keep running to Him in order to hide in Him. 

Today, I will meditate on how He continues to provide a place of safety for my soul. I'll let my thoughts wander back and rejoice at all the times He has protected me up until now - and then I will purposefully run to Him again today and hide in His fortress once again. Will you join me?

Watch Where You Step!

This morning I was pouring my heart out to God. That's nothing unusual, He's used to hearing me whine, cry, fuss and cuss. I had seen some areas where Chris has seemed to lose a lot of ground lately and it frustrates me. I feel like a failure. And as usual, I take all my cares to Him. Remember He told  us to, several times throughout scriptures. So I did.

I was thinking about all there is for caregivers to juggle. For me it's work,  therapy for Chris, ministry, writing my stuff, housework, etc. Who has time to do everything? Yet I find myself my own worst critic, condemning myself for not doing more.Are you kidding me? 

So this morning I was bringing all this to the Lord. Asking Him to help me know how to get more organized. He may be tired of hearing that prayer. (lol) I wish I could get on some sort of schedule and stick to it. But you know how it is, just about the time you do find a schedule that looks like it's going to work, something gets thrown into it to mess it all up. Eventually, we can tend to give up on that and go back to the day-by-day.

As I was praying (whining crying....) I heard myself ask God to help me order my days. Help me know how to get more done for Chris and work and maybe even myself in there somewhere. My fellow caregivers know that self-care is the first to go when we are in a crunch. The scripture came to mind order my steps. So I looked it up.

I found it in Psalm 37, which turns out I remember to be one of those awesome psalms with tons of wisdom. Verse 23 in the KJV says this: The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and He delights in his way. But look at the New Living Translation - The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. He watches over every little detail - the good, the bad and the ugly!

He is actively involved in our lives. He will help us order our days. I believe He wants us to bring our stuff to Him. He wants to help us sort through it. Our mess doesn't put Him off. He doesn't find our lifestyle distasteful, He is here to help. Earlier in this psalm, David offers quite a bit of advice for the righteous. He encourages us to do several things:

• Delight in the Lord
• Commit your way to Him
• Trust in the Lord
• Rest in theLord
• Wait patiently for the Lord

Sometimes these are easier said than done, especially in our hectic lives where there is so much to get done every day. But today, I am going to commit my way to Him. I will purposefully wait for His direction and instruction. My thoughts will be on how I can continue to trust Him in this situation and I will commit my way to Him for Him to direct my steps. I'm pretty sure He's not going to fail me now. Will you join me?