I Found Myself

The Lord has been speaking to me a lot lately.

Or maybe I have been listening more.

But it seems He is speaking to me about so MANY things.

At times I catch myself feeling overwhelmed.

So, I am led here. To actually start writing about "My Journey and the Many Blessings Along the Way".

..............

I was reminded of this blog I started last year. I created it to upload pictures for my out of town family and didn't intend to use it as a traditional "blog".

 I know this may seem silly, but I saw the title "My Journey & The Many Blessings Along the Way" under a friends list of blogs she follows (not realizing that it was my own) and thought to myself, "Hmm, I wonder who's blog that is? The title sounds interesting." I clicked on it and up popped a blog with a picture of myself and my family!

Yes, I am a natural blond!

But, on a more serious note, these are the times in my life when the enemy slips in there and starts saying things like

"You are crazy. Look, you didn't even remember this was the name of your own blog. How are you ever going to be able to educate your girls at home. They are going to grow up uneducated and everyone, especially your family, is going to look at you and say I told you so!"

or he might throw something like this at me,

"You are so dumb and forgetful and unorganized (blah blah blah) how can you home school your children. They are going to grow up a mess!"

Now...I know that these are lies!

Straight from the father of all liars.

John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." He (satan) wants me to stop homeschooling, he wants my marriage to fall apart, he wants my children led astray, he wants me to give up and fall for the lies and be depressed and overwhelmed!

I refuse to listen and accept his lies!

 What I have been focusing on has everything to do with the second part of this verse...

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

First, "I have come..."

Jesus has come...

for you...

for me...

for every human that has ever been born and ever will be born.

So that we may have life, and have it to the full!

It doesn't say he came to give life to certain people. 

He came FOR ALL!

It is up to us whether we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.

He wishes for not one to perish.

The question that I have been asking myself is why haven't I been experiencing life to the full.

Why?

I know that worry, anxiousness, laziness, complacency, anger...the list goes on...are not what I would consider LIFE and definitely not LIFE TO THE FULL.

So, what's going on?

Well, it was one of those, Ah Ha! moments.

"So that's why prayer has been coming up so often lately."

Duh! I know.

I am so incredibly blessed to have a patient Savior.

The funny thing is, it feels like I've been here before.

Wait... I have...
two or three or maybe fifty times.

 Sometimes we think that once we have the Ah Ha moment we're good. Okay, I've got this one. No more problems in this area.

Ha! Wrongo!

But the great thing is, that this may be the fiftieth time that I've been here, but God had been speaking to me about prayer in every way imaginable for the past few weeks. Books, devotions, conversations, sermons, you name it. EVERYTHING seemed to be about prayer.

So...even though I strayed away...yet again...from praying the way I should be, the Lord was calling me back to him. He was calling me back to fellowship with Him. He was calling me back to spend time with Him, to listen to me, to speak to me, to hold me in his arms, to give me comfort, to...forgive me. 

This one thing effects everything else in my life.

Today, when I started to get overwhelmed, I remembered...I need to focus on this ONE thing right now. 

Prayer.

It is where we develop the relationship. It is where we find forgiveness, grace, mercy, peace and rest. It is where we seek comfort, wisdom and guidance. It is a time of thankfulness and humbleness. It is where all the other things either get worked out or start getting worked out in us. It is where we get filled up, so that our Spiritman is filled with Him and not filled with what our flesh wants or needs or what the World says it needs. This is where the "many things I need to work on", start falling away. 

IT IS A NECESSITY OF LIFE as a Christian, a home school mom, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister...

I love the King James version,

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (I added the italic and underline for emphasis)

This is Jesus talking. He is not just promising us life if we follow him, he is promising us MORE ABUNDANT life! Not just abundant life but

MORE ABUNDANT LIFE!

Are you experiencing MORE ABUNDANT life today?

Blessings,

Amy