No Separation Anxiety

Are there days when you feel as if your head is spinning with all the distractions calling for your attention?  Wait don't answer that....I already know your answer.  

Yes, I have those times. It's the consequences of living in the midst of all this web-driven commotion.  There's an art to being still before God, to quiet myself enough to enjoy the presence of God. I want to talk with Him and hear what He wants to tell me.  

I am so desperate to hear from God in many areas. 

One challenge for me is the "multiple hats" syndrome. I'm a mom, a mentor, wife, missionary, writer, employee, volunteer, confidant and friend.  So many things to do . . . and so little time to do it all.  As one whose work requires many hours each day at a computer and on the Internet, I find myself in the midst of this neurological challenge. Yet, the desire of my heart is to be so attuned with my Father that I hear Him when He wants to teach me,  reveal to me, comfort me or guide me.  

I don't believe the answers are easy.  

If I don't attend to the desire in my heart to spend time with God . . . God will get squeezed out and my life will remain wanting. He'll be there waiting . . . but I won't be there with Him to receive.

More than ever before - in the random noise of this time - daily quiet time with God is essential for my life of faith; a time when we can step out of "the world" and into the peace of God. Paul writes describes himself as a "bondservant" of Jesus Christ, called to the devotion that He wrote about.  Separated from the world around him, devoted to Christ.  Separated to the gospel, separated for the gospel of God.

Paul devoted his life to solitude with Christ.  Romans 1:1

Clearly, we need to be separated from the world in some ways, so we can live the life He wants for us and so He can show Himself to us and through us. So as we find our way on the super-highway of technology, little changes and little steps can make a big difference. Not watching so much television, setting up a daily time in the Word and for prayer, simplifying our lives and just not doing "so much." 

Solitude....Separates.

We can carve out that sacred separated time and meet with the One who loves, cares, creates, and (get this mind-blowing fact).... craves our time with Him.

It's worth the risk of separation from this world to invite Him into mine.

Hemmed In

The Craftsman knows His craft.

I am often filled with awe and wonder when I absorb and remember who God is and that He loves. I long to understand more of God as we spend time together. My early morning devotional time is birthing a great awakening of my soul. There is revival waiting in all our hearts if we allow God to speak to us through prayer and reading His Word.

He lovingly created and crafted us to need Him and made us with a void that only He can fill. The problem is that we try to fill the void with all the things of the world. I have to fight the tide of sin that begs to distract my attention and intention.

Psalm 139 is a great get-to-know-God chapter which acknowledges our Creator from the beginning as the only One who knows us and searches our hearts. He knows our movements, our oh-so-familiar habits, not to mention our wayward ways and hurtful tongues.

He knows us because he made life. 

He also knows our actions, all of them, 

the ups and downs, the ins and outs, back and forth motions. 

He knows. He monitors. He keeps track. 

He knows our thoughts, even before they are spoken. He created our word-filled gray matter that formulates our sentences as we verbalize and communicate. He knows all our words, be they kind or helpful, full of love or hate, the unspoken, He knows them all. He knows the intentions and the meanings, and how each one will fall on each heart.

He keeps. He binds us neatly into His care. Verse 5 reassures us our Maker has a pattern of order and protection. "You hemmed me in---behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." He's got you. You are kept in His hands, safe from the frayed areas of life. He's got your perimeters, your fringed areas, and the folds are neatly tucked into his love. You can't stray too far for His hands to grasp you, or reach, nor can you fall apart or disintegrate without his knowledge. If you are worn or needing a patch, He knows and provides His Providence.

He surrounds you. 

What about the parts of your life that you can't see or are unknown? He knows those too. He's already been there working out your tomorrows, the next worries that will hit your life. The next problem-filled hour, the next breath. He has the answers and has a well laid out pattern with your name on it. He knows the cloth fabric from which you were made. He created your substance; He was in your beginning. He's seen your starting point.  

He crafted you so beautifully in the inmost parts.   

He knows. He keeps your path behind you clear, and He has seen your winding journey ahead and insures your safety. He knows many minutes you have left.  He knows how long it will take to bring you Home.  He's mapped out your entire purpose-driven life. He knows the mountain-top moments that await and has already been in your valleys. He is the oasis in your deserts. He knows.

He hovers and dwells. 

So when God's Word says you are not alone, you can believe him. He doesn't abandon His own. He lives inside if you are a believer. He camps out and stands as a sentinel watch over you. He has you carefully hemmed by His grace and mercy. He lovingly protects, prevents, limits and actively orchestrates the all the fray and fringe areas to keep you enclosed because he loves you. Like a craftsman to his craft... He is loyal and dedicated to keeping close to us.

It feels right to be within his protective plan-filled hands. His hemming weaves a closer-knit relationship and provides a brightly colored layered of tapestry of protection.  God is not just on your borders, He is in your muddled middle too holding with His helping hands. Those strong hands are over and under you…surrounding you.  His hands bring deliverance, protection, power. It’s no wonder that David, the author of this Psalm, says next, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me . . .” (Psalm 139:6). I can't fathom.

God loves you and knows all about you. 

God has hemmed you.  

Stay in Psalm 139 a while.  

Are blown away yet?

 Search me, O God.