I have a morning routine. I wake up…in the loosest form of the word. I walk downstairs. I make my cup of coffee. I wait for my cup of coffee to finish brewing while staring at it longingly. I doctor my cup of coffee. And then I go sit in the same spot on the same couch, with my cup of coffee warming my hands, to spend some time with God and His Word. Did I mention the coffee part? Essential.

I don’t do it to check some good Christian thing off my list. Though I like lists. I do it because God has proven something to me in my journey with Him. He’s proven that His Word is alive– like this-is-almost-creepy alive. To the point that now, when I open His Word, I expect to hear from Him. I expect Him to graciously talk to me as I seek His heart. Not because I’m owed anything or have the power to conjure up something from Him. I expect Him to speak simply because He’s my Daddy, and He wants to.

So when I start reading His Word I’m usually in conversation with Him, like, “Lord, this is what’s on my heart today. This is what’s worrying or bothering or troubling or annoying me…” Then I may blah, blah for a bit, laying my emotions and perspective before Him. Then as I read I keep talking to Him about His interactions with people of old. I ask Him questions about why He did what He did. And I look for His character in the text, because He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. And then I praise Him for what He shows me about Himself.

It’s a relationship. I’m fully known. And I want to know Him.

 

 

Before I get up from that time, I try to identify one thing that I want to meditate upon from His Word. One truth of His character. Or one promise He makes to His children. Something that will strengthen me as I walk through the cray-cray of life. Sometimes I text it to one of my bffs. It’s just all sorts of wrong for me to say “bff” when I’m 40 years old. But I’m going with it. Sometimes I blog about it. Like now. Sometimes I write it in my journal. Sometimes I don’t. But I try to repeat it in my mind a few times to help it stick. Because brain cells are fading. I blame motherhood. And being 40.

Today I was in 2 Kings 7 and my one thing is, “God, You have promised to work ALL things together for my good. I can trust You with the journey to get there.” It doesn’t say that in the text, but it’s what happened. God had promised through Elisha that Israel would have food the next day — they were in the midst of a horrific famine. And the way He brought it about was crazy-miraculous. It was unexpected. It was almost-ridiculous. But He did it. And that really encouraged me.

 

God can be trusted with the journey.

 

We who have come by faith to God through Christ have promises from Him like the one I mentioned above from Romans 8:28 — that He will work all things together for the good of those who love Him. But that “working together” is a process. It’s a journey. And the real victory for us comes in how we walk it out. Do we walk in faith, trusting that He is indeed doing what He promised — sometimes in an unexpected, almost-ridiculous way? Or do we walk in fear and anxiety, unsure if He’ll actually come through in the end? We get the choice. Day-in and day-out. We get the choice to wrestle our short-sighted hearts back to places of steadfast truth.

So that’s what I’m thinking about today. I’m remembering that He can be trusted with the journey. I’m remembering that His ways are often unexpected. I’m remembering that He’s faithful to His promises. And I’m asking Him to grace me with even greater faith to believe.

Let’s do this, Friday.

 
Fill me, Lord…

What one thing are you remembering today?