Happy Friday y’all! These days are just flying by. We’ll be through 2020 before we know it. I hope you have truly taken advantage of the miracles of 2020: taken time to grow closer to God and began to live a life for Christ so you can rest assured in the promise of tomorrow.
Our home church is currently conducting a series on Heaven. Last weekend Pastor Cam spoke on the surprises we’ll find in Heaven. While none of us truly know what Heaven holds, I have this hope that we will be able to live in our memories. Life is so fleeting, it passes by so fast. I pray that if I make it to Heaven, with all of you amazing folks, we can step back into our memories and relive those special moments in our lives that we wish we could hold onto forever, like this memory below.
I love TimeHop for reminding me of moments like this. Our children our babies for such a short time. Every phase of their lives is a blessing, but so short lived. Lately, my son keeps saying he wants to stay little forever and doesn’t want to get big. I tell him I want him to stay that way forever too. And our nine-year-old daughter quickly approaching her teen years. We hope to hold onto her sweet innocence a few more years.
Without my kids, I don’t know where I would be in my walk with Jesus and God. They have taught me everything I was missing in my understanding of the endless depth of love God has for us. And they are my daily inspiration to make it to Heaven, so I can spend eternity in their presence.
October 16
2You do not have because you do not ask God. 23When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2, 3)
There was a time in my life I actually prayed for God to match up my lottery tickets to the winning jackpot. I reasoned with God that I would live a modest life and use the money to help others. But God knows the heart. He knew that I still looked at huge houses on Victory Drive in Savannah with envy and longing. God knew if I would ever win the lottery, I would waste a lot of that money on worldly pleasures. Then I became wiser in my knowledge of Christ’s teachings and no longer prayed for winning the lottery because I had come to the realization that wealth was not the key to happiness. I found true happiness and freedom in the beautiful life God had provided for me, that I had never asked for, and surely did not deserve. But God gave it to me anyway: a beautiful family, and rewarding career and life in a country that provides freedom and stability and endless opportunity. All my prayers had been answered all along.
What have you asked for in the past that God did not provide? If you took a second look at your requests, were they made with the right intentions? As the old Garth Brooks song said decades ago, some of God’s greatest gifts are those unanswered prayers.
Reading plan: 1 Peter 3:1-7
Deeper reading plan: Joel 1:13-20
Prayer and meditation: Pray for our country. Pray for love to conquer all. Pray for peace and common sense to infect the minds of every single American. Pray for civility and calm in the next three weeks. Pray for Christians to be a beacon of hope and consistency for all those who may face increased anxiety at the end of the month. Pray for revival that is permanent and world changing.
Fitness challenge: Day 46-46 reps
- Hand-release Push-up
- Sit-up
- Jumping squat
- Leg lift
- Burpees
Friday fun run: 1 mile for time.
Common Sense Reborn 