Open for 2015 {Week 22}

Click here to get the low-down on the "Open for 2015" weekly series.

I have to confess that I am floundering coming off of a wonderfully encouraging and inspiring weekend and returning to normal life; I keep looking back to those days like a pleasant dream!  But I am so glad to be back with my people on our home and our place where God has called us to live and move and have our being.

While I was away I had the treat of sitting on the hotel patio early one morning, my body on east coat time in the mountain time zone.  In awe, I soaked up the beauty of the mountain view, the delight of the solitude, and the wonder of the Grace that had me in that place.  For the first time in a while, I was overwhelmed not by my to-do lists and responsibilities, but by the Lord.

He is the reason I was in Colorado.
He is the reason I am cleansed from my sins.
He is the reason that my past does not dictate my future.
He  is the reason!

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

How different would my life be if I spent my days being overwhelmed by my Great God,

rather than tasks, duties, and responsibilities?!

Will I be OPEN to this kind of living?

Sitting here now in my living room, laptop warming my legs, raindrops clinging to the front window through which I see so much green, I am thankful for that cool morning on a hotel patio with a mountain view.  Because today the list is long and the time is short.  Heather, the Spirit whispers to my soul, will you turn your eyes to me and be more overwhelmed by Me than your list?

The choice is before me.  Will I be OPEN to Him today?

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,

shining brighter till the full light of day.

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know what makes them stumble.

Proverbs 4:18-19

Time to Take Action:

Have you had a chance lately to be amazed by God and His gracious work in your life?  We desperately need to make space to remember and have our vision cleared in this busy, overwhelming world in which we live.  What is temporal will pass away, as hard as that is to believe sometimes!  What is eternal will last forever.  Whatever is going on today, plan some time to sit still and be with God.  Ask Him to remind you of His love for you, of the work He has done in your life, and of the work He is doing in your life.  Rejoice that He is the reason you no longer walk in darkness, but are light in the Lord!  That glorious truth is so easily choked out by the cares of this world.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light  (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.  Ephesians 5:8-10

Be overwhelmed today not by your burdens,

but by the One who can lift them!