Humbled again

For months I have been waking up at 4:38 am. Sometimes I fall back asleep and sometimes I get up, but very regularly when I check the clock it says, 4:38. I sit here on this blog talking about listening, looking, watching and waiting for Him, but when it comes down to it, I don’t follow my own advice very well.

It finally occurred to me to look up 4:38 verses in the Bible and I was reminded and humbled again. He gives us what is not ours and what we have not earned and He plucks us from the pit and places us high on the backs and shoulders of mighty giants.

When we realize and remember this, there is nothing to do but live every moment in humble thanksgiving and love.

John 4:38
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.

Deuteronomy 4:38
…to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

A seed

I was talking with my daughter about the beginning of the universe and gave her a very brief explanation of “The Big Bang Theory“.

After we finished talking she said, “I understand – it is just like a seed.”  Hmm… I thought – I have never heard it compared to a seed, but I think she is right.  I love this analogy!

Wouldn’t it be just like our sweet Lord to grow our whole universe from a tiny seed, next fill our world with seeds and the process of amazing things growing from seeds, then talk about seeds throughout the Bible and then patiently wait for a sweet little child to make the connection!!!

Our Lord is so AWESOME!  I love the games of hide and seek and seek and find that He is ALWAYS playing with us!

His words are enough!

A friend recently read a book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I have had the documentary, Bonhoeffer, in my Netflix queue for quite some time and our discussion gave me the incentive to finally watch it. I really liked it and am very interested in reading more about Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

A student of his spoke in the documentary and discussed how his teaching was so drastically different than anything she had ever experienced up to that point in her life. He taught her to read The Bible as if God was speaking directly to her.  I love this!

This is just another reminder to me that I need to read The Bible.  I can and should critically listen to others, their thoughts and interpretations, but in the end I need to read The Bible.  I need to give God the opportunity to speak directly to me.

God, thank you so much for Your Word, for blessing me with a Bible of my own and giving me the ability to read.  Please motivate me everyday to read, study, and reflect on Your Holy Words.

Arise, Shine!

For the last few months I have been waking up every morning about 10-15 min before my youngest daughter wakes up.  I usually check the time and then roll over and try to fall back asleep for a few min before I hear her calling for me.

For the last few weeks it has crossed my mind a few times during this early morning time check that maybe God wants me to wake up early and read the Bible before my daughter gets up.  I haven’t actually done this, but I have thought about it a few times.

A few days ago I started reading another blog.  The author of this blog wakes up every morning to read his Bible.

Well this morning, it happened again.  I woke up at 5:50 am, I checked the time on my phone, laid there for a min thinking about how tired I was, but then I leaned over to turn on the light.

I opened to Isaiah 60:1 and the first two words I saw were “Arise, shine”.  What a beautiful morning greeting from God!

Now I have to practice listening to His words, because unfortunately when I was done reading, I turned off the light and fell back asleep for 5 more min, and when I did wake up we had a very hectic morning.

Jesus, thank You for the beautiful wake up call this morning.  Please give me the strength to not hit the snooze button on You tomorrow morning if I am blessed with another wake up call from You!