Sustaining

Our pastors have recently started a series called “Live Like You Were Dying”. Yesterday’s message ended with a time of response and there were reflection questions pre-printed in the bulletin.

The last two questions, “Where do you need to allow God to exert His resurrection power?” and “Do you need to confess anything that you have allowed to be a ‘yoke’ in your life?” got my attention.

9 weeks ago, my world changed. My son moved in. Somehow in that time, I’ve tried to survive each day on my own. And it’s become exhausting. The “yoke” that I’ve allowed in is to be sustained by my own strength instead of God’s strength.

Yes, there has been a lot of prayer involved. But it’s been very mono-directional communication. I haven’t been taking the time to spend reading the Bible and learning in the way that is needed in order to truly be sustained by and rely on the Creator of life.

It’s been hard to figure out where to fit that in. I get up early, start work, get my son out the door to school, work the day, hang out with my kid, possibly talk to another adult on the phone for a bit, and go to bed.

I was talking with one of my friends at church about this yesterday. She mentioned that the mother someone she knew had an understanding in their home that if she was seated in a certain place with her study material out, she was not to be bothered. It was her time with God.

Today I decided to try that out. It was a little bit hard for my son to keep in mind that I am studying and he did interrupt a couple times. But overall, it’s worked out pretty well... for the first try. So, I am going to try to make this an afternoon/evening practice. Maybe not every single day, but most days.

“Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Deuteronomy 8:4