Center Of It All

 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19:14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There are times the world gets the best of me and I take my eyes off of Jesus. I sink a little. My light dims a little. What comes out of my mouth is not pleasing and I’m reminded my heart, at times, is not kind. 

I allow the world around me to dictate my actions with God. I get too busy to pray, too overwhelmed to spend quiet time with Him, pride strikes. I’ve come a long way from bashing myself, taking captive my thoughts and sharing my heart with the Lord. He gives me grace each and every time I wrestle with Him. He’s so gracious.

Psalms 19:14 reminds me that my relationship with God is the most important relationship. It has taken me years to fully understand that God takes precedence . As I keep my eyes on Him, everything else falls into place. This means God comes before my spouse, my kids, my parents, my friends, myself. My focus is on Him so that He can fully restore my heart, my eyes focused on only Him.

When I’m focused on Jesus’ teachings, I apply His words so much easier. I’m not trying to manipulate the Word to benefit my agenda. My prayers are true and clean, not full of selfishness, pure. 

Not long ago I watched the movie Father Stu. By the way, excellent movie. I am a Mark Wahlberg fan. He’s come a long way as an actor, a person. I saw a few interviews with him and in many of his interviews he talks about how his family knows the first thing he does when he wakes up is go to the Lord in prayer. He talks about how his family respects his time with the Lord. His kids know their dad goes to the Lord first and foremost, each and every morning.

Wow.

It’s been laid on my heart to share that to truly love your family, God comes first. Take all of your burdens and give it to the Lord. Open your heart to Him so He can be the surgeon He is meant to be. Take captive your thoughts and meditate on His Word. We are mirror images of Him! Let us walk and talk like Him.

He gives us His all, why shouldn’t we in return?

Lord-

I praise your wonderful name! You are my rock. When I’m focused on You, everything makes sense and anxiety flees. Thank you for the reminder that you are to be the center of it all. That relationships, finances, jobs, parenting, time, and so much more will fall into place when I focus on you. When my eyes fall from you and focus on my family, I lose sight of your plan and try to navigate on my own. That never works! When I try to control finances, that never works! When I dictate time and re-create busy, it hurts my time with you. Thank you for loving me so much and giving me this vision this morning, you boldly and largely in the center of my home and everything, much smaller in size, falling into place around you. Hallelujah! May my prayer and my heart thoughts be pleasing to you. May I always remember to seek you first. 

Amen 

Cut daisy in a vase of wildflowers grandma and I collected. Polk County, Mo
June 2022

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:11‬ ‭NLT‬