(This is for you, my precious red headed wonder. I love you! ;) )
For nearly all my life, I've known that getting up early and spending time with God was essential to the well being of my faith. I'd say that in the last 8 years that I've really gotten my spiritual act together, (or started really trying to) I have really felt that desire for the first time. And honestly, for the last 8 years it's been nearly impossible to get up early. I'm not lying. Especially with Zane, I was lucky to get maybe 4 hours of sleep a night. I was a walking zombie. Truly.
BUT, I gave God the first fruits of my night. As soon as the kids were in bed, I dived into the Word. No cleaning, no t.v. watching, nothing. It really helped that Allen gets home so late, because it was a completely quiet house, and I dedicated that time to the Lord. And oh my word did He bless it.
I realized as I spent most of my time at church in the nursery that I was solely responsible for my spiritual walk. It wasn't some preacher's job to get me to be Christ-like. It was my job and mine alone. Maybe it's not so hard for some, but for me, and my horrible sinful longings, I needed to dedicate a lot of time to God and His Word. I would record sermons from people, read books, read the Word, do Bible studies, talk with friends, whatever I could to grow myself. And God blessed it. I grew spiritually without a church. Not the people. I wouldn't live a day without my friends, but I grew without the instruction of a church. Not fun, but again, God blessed it.
(I know my friends are glad the Joyce Meyer days are over. I quoted her so much, I could actually hear the eye rolling when I'd toss back out what I'd learned that week. God bless her. She really did help me out for a while. And I do admit to saying, "Run to the throne, not the phone" when we were talking about how you immediately react to tough situations last week. Hey, it's a good reminder for me...)
SO, now that I have 3 pretty grown up kids (SWEET HALLELUJAH) God impressed it on my heart that He wanted to start spending some really quiet time with me in the morning. I was okay with that. One of my favorite series is the Yada Yada Prayer Group series. The main character starts her day out early in the morning with her Bible, her recliner and her cup of coffee. While reading those books, I would think, "Oh, I want that." I really wanted that.
So when school started, I started setting my alarm for 6 am. The coffee is on a timer, and it's ready when I come down the stairs. I get a cup, curl up in my corner of the couch, get snuggled up with Bella, and we go before the Lord.
I'm just gonna say that what God is doing in my life through this time is nothing, and I mean nothing, short of a miracle. I am reading and learning things that I use in my day. I mean like they are there for me in the morning to use so clearly during the day. I'm reading scriptures that come back to me through things I'm reading, people I talk to and sermons too. I promise you, that even during a question and answer session at church on Wednesday night, our pastor read a passage I had read one morning. I think I even said, "Of COURSE you're reading this..." out loud. It was one of those coughing and covering it up moments. Not embarrassing at. all.
So I now set my alarm for 5:50, because I was losing some getting-my-coffee-letting-Bella-out-to-pee moments and wasn't getting started until 6:15. I go until 7 when it's time for me to walk/run. I am now fantasizing about getting up at 5:30 to have more time. Isn't that just crazy? It is crazy.
I'm going to bed at 10 now, and if I could just go on 7 hours of sleep a night, I could pull off getting up even earlier. I consider it a true character flaw that I need 8 hours of sleep a night to function correctly. Especially since I went without sleep for so many years. Maybe that's why I need so much now? I don't know. I'm working on it.
But for now, I'm loving the quiet gray of the early morning. I love seeing the sun come up. I love communing with God before anything else enters my mind. I really see now why Joshua, Jesus and others got up early to spend time with God. It's just precious. PRECIOUS. I can't even put it into words. I'm more in love with Him now than I've been ever.
And He's walking me through some lonely, shady paths that haven't been trodden much. It's a precious journey, and He's taking those steps with me in the early morning hours before the world is even awake.
For nearly all my life, I've known that getting up early and spending time with God was essential to the well being of my faith. I'd say that in the last 8 years that I've really gotten my spiritual act together, (or started really trying to) I have really felt that desire for the first time. And honestly, for the last 8 years it's been nearly impossible to get up early. I'm not lying. Especially with Zane, I was lucky to get maybe 4 hours of sleep a night. I was a walking zombie. Truly.
BUT, I gave God the first fruits of my night. As soon as the kids were in bed, I dived into the Word. No cleaning, no t.v. watching, nothing. It really helped that Allen gets home so late, because it was a completely quiet house, and I dedicated that time to the Lord. And oh my word did He bless it.
I realized as I spent most of my time at church in the nursery that I was solely responsible for my spiritual walk. It wasn't some preacher's job to get me to be Christ-like. It was my job and mine alone. Maybe it's not so hard for some, but for me, and my horrible sinful longings, I needed to dedicate a lot of time to God and His Word. I would record sermons from people, read books, read the Word, do Bible studies, talk with friends, whatever I could to grow myself. And God blessed it. I grew spiritually without a church. Not the people. I wouldn't live a day without my friends, but I grew without the instruction of a church. Not fun, but again, God blessed it.
(I know my friends are glad the Joyce Meyer days are over. I quoted her so much, I could actually hear the eye rolling when I'd toss back out what I'd learned that week. God bless her. She really did help me out for a while. And I do admit to saying, "Run to the throne, not the phone" when we were talking about how you immediately react to tough situations last week. Hey, it's a good reminder for me...)
SO, now that I have 3 pretty grown up kids (SWEET HALLELUJAH) God impressed it on my heart that He wanted to start spending some really quiet time with me in the morning. I was okay with that. One of my favorite series is the Yada Yada Prayer Group series. The main character starts her day out early in the morning with her Bible, her recliner and her cup of coffee. While reading those books, I would think, "Oh, I want that." I really wanted that.
So when school started, I started setting my alarm for 6 am. The coffee is on a timer, and it's ready when I come down the stairs. I get a cup, curl up in my corner of the couch, get snuggled up with Bella, and we go before the Lord.
I'm just gonna say that what God is doing in my life through this time is nothing, and I mean nothing, short of a miracle. I am reading and learning things that I use in my day. I mean like they are there for me in the morning to use so clearly during the day. I'm reading scriptures that come back to me through things I'm reading, people I talk to and sermons too. I promise you, that even during a question and answer session at church on Wednesday night, our pastor read a passage I had read one morning. I think I even said, "Of COURSE you're reading this..." out loud. It was one of those coughing and covering it up moments. Not embarrassing at. all.
So I now set my alarm for 5:50, because I was losing some getting-my-coffee-letting-Bella-out-to-pee moments and wasn't getting started until 6:15. I go until 7 when it's time for me to walk/run. I am now fantasizing about getting up at 5:30 to have more time. Isn't that just crazy? It is crazy.
I'm going to bed at 10 now, and if I could just go on 7 hours of sleep a night, I could pull off getting up even earlier. I consider it a true character flaw that I need 8 hours of sleep a night to function correctly. Especially since I went without sleep for so many years. Maybe that's why I need so much now? I don't know. I'm working on it.
But for now, I'm loving the quiet gray of the early morning. I love seeing the sun come up. I love communing with God before anything else enters my mind. I really see now why Joshua, Jesus and others got up early to spend time with God. It's just precious. PRECIOUS. I can't even put it into words. I'm more in love with Him now than I've been ever.
And He's walking me through some lonely, shady paths that haven't been trodden much. It's a precious journey, and He's taking those steps with me in the early morning hours before the world is even awake.
2 comments:
Oh YES! Getting up early is so wonderful! It is the best time of the day for me! And I never cease to marvel at the sunrise.....
xoxo
Jennifer
Uggghh. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get up early again. If I do I am a zombie by noon. I sleep really horribly most nights between my legs hurting and Cody in and out of our bed. We are working on the latter again. And caffeine is not my friend. I so admire you, and am not at the point you are yet, but hope to be one day.
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