ForgottenWoman

Will You Focus with Me?

“Evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice.”

 It is so exciting to wake up each morning knowing that I can speak with the Creator of the universe just by choosing to do so.   This reality seems to be running constantly through my mind these days; especially during the past few weeks. The instances when life has thrown me curve after curve that I wasn’t sure what to do with; I found myself over and over again immediately turning my heart to my Heavenly Father. Just talking to Him about the situation, releasing my problems to His care brings a calm that otherwise escapes me. Why even bear my own burdens for a moment alone? When Solomon asked for wisdom, he was not asking for anything that you and I cannot ask for. Our daily lives are filled with choices, with roadblocks we must navigate, major problems that we do not have human answers for! God promises wisdom for each of these – available upon our asking.

Just this morning I found myself overcome with the type of emotions that feel so heavy that I simply couldn’t function, couldn’t speak, couldn’t even cry. I got into my car and I just began to talk out loud to my Heavenly Father – and I admitted that I am feeling things that I know do not honor Him! I feel anger, I feel “sin crouching at my door” as my heart leans toward bitterness, I feel sorrow, I feel discouragement, I feel a deep sadness that just doesn’t seem to want to let up! You know what? I told Him! He already knew – but I confessed my frailty, my desire to allow Him to deal in my circumstances as He sees fit. I asked Him to bless the one who has caused me so much pain. I gritted my teeth and asked Him to bless… then I asked Him to miraculously draw this person to Himself before it is eternally too late. Then I said as one of my dear friends says, “It’s up to You, God! How you deal with those who have hurt me is up to You! Please help me surrender all of my pain and emotions to You! Please give me the vitality of life that You promise in Your Word! You are the Bread of Life – and I want to walk in THAT – and not walk in my pain!” I share my time this morning with you because in my real and raw walk; I want Him to be glorified above all and I’m learning to take it all to Him instead of to anyone else… He offers us this place of shelter: under His wings. We need to rest there.

So – I’ve been working to have a focused and committed prayer time every single day – a time that nothing can interfere with, a time that cannot be set aside for any other purpose, an appointment with my Father.

What is so awesome to me is that this exercise of focus and committed prayer is changing my first reaction to life. My heart is beginning to automatically go into prayer mode throughout the day. While driving along listening to a quarrel between my grandchildren last week I found that I automatically prayed for wisdom before I said a word to them. While walking the bike trail these days; as a look at the beauty around me I find myself embarrassed when I realize I am talking too loud to the Lord. When I awoke this morning with a very long “Joy Do” list since there isn’t a “honey,” I realized I was talking to the Lord and asking Him to help me organize my day so that I could accomplish all that I needed to. The truth is that He is always there waiting for us to turn our hearts His direction.

Why is it that we think that He is disinterested in most of the details of our days? Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He wants us to recognize Him always: when life is topsy-turvy and when life is mundane. My prayer is that as I share my own prayer journey you will be encouraged to acknowledge Him morning, noon and night, that you will set aside an appointed time to focus with Him and that we will all get to the place that when we are walking through our daily routines, we ask for His wisdom each step of the way.