~Prayer by Sheila Cragg in her Devotional, A Woman's Walk With God
This is where I seem to be stuck. Spiritually sluggish, drawing back, shrinking in fear. I don't like those terms to be found in me. But in all reality, they are.
Fear grips me - I tend to draw back. Not away from God, but I guess you could say away from the problem. Away from the feeling of doing something wrong. I draw back on what I could be -- what God wants me to be.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:5)
How much strength do I have now? What is it to "love God"? Being the imperfect beings we are, how are we to love such a PERFECT Lord?
Sheila says, "Our Lord knows that we'll never feel fully at rest during our earthly journey. He knows that most of what we do daily to maintain our lives and much of what we do for pleasure leaved us tired. He knows that to escape our pain and those empty, lonely moments, we overload them with meaningless activities and anxious thoughts that fatigue us....Christ calls us to come to Him...so He can refresh us when we're weary of the daily work we must do."
These next words are so touching..."Our loving Shepherd desires to lead us to green meadows beside still waters so He can cleanse our diseased thoughts, heal our damaged lives, and restore our souls. He longs to guide us through the valley of pain, to free us from the fear of evil, to comfort us with His rod and staff. He yearns to lead us along the path of righteousness for His name's sake.The Lord Himself is inviting us to follow Him to a place of peaceful quietness for personal restoration, to find a place of solitude for spiritual restoration, Come, sit at the place He's set for you. He longs to serve you, so let His healing Word quench your thirst; let His tender mercy refresh your starved soul; let His gracious love awaken your spiritual passion."
It's truly at these times I feel closest to my Savior. It's almost like He allowed it so I would get close to Him. All day I had a thirst in my throat for water, but oh how much more thirst I had in my heart. I want my life to be renewed--fulfilled--pleasing to Him. I am not saying it is not right now, but there's steps I need to take, "stones I need to jump across".
It's such a wonder to think God of the universe longs to do things--wonderful things for us. How funny as to why we just won't let Him.
