Remembering the Word in the Morning

I was sitting in my apartment this morning after a significantly crazy week reading my Bible. This is the first time since Sunday that I have made time to actually read God's Word before I ran off to my day. And I realized that this should never happen...EVER AGAIN. My soul was soothed by the words of James, but it made me realize that my heart was parched and dying. I felt rejuvenated for the first time all week.

This is the only way to start the day out right. Without it, the days go wrong, I get crabby, and nothing really works out right. I feel my temper rise, I complain, and I just feel off over all.

With the Word in my head and heart, I feel on fire, I get giddy, and I feel restored. It seems to obvious that I would want this over the alternative, but sometimes school creeps up on me and pretends to be my all-in-all. Academics are a battle I fight every day, and I need to remember that they are just a part of this life that is passing away.

So I started my day today in James. Truth was imparted to my soul:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James
1:17)

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to
visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep unstained from the
world. (James 1:27)

Every gift, and I have been blessed with many, comes from my Heavenly Father who will never change. He is the Father of lights, and He will wipe out the darkness.

Keeping unstained from the world is not easy, but with the help of the Holy Spirit and the truth imparted through the Word of God, it becomes a lot easier.

So my dear readership, remember to soothe your soul with the water that is only of the Word. Be rejuvenated in it. Remember to be thankful to God for the blessings that you have received, and in that thankfulness, remember to be unstained in the world so we can be a good witness for our Father.

And remember:

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless
and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and
twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to
the word of life.... (Philippians 2:14-16)

All for His glory. Forever and ever.

Meat and Potatoes

This semester has been filled with surprisingly busy things. Some wonderful and amazing, others a little less so. But Jesus still manages to be present in my days.

I was reading Hebrews 5 this morning, and the end of the passage really hit home:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have
become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you
need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You
need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the
word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature,
for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to
distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11-14)

This passage made me pause. I really feel like I can only handle milk some days. The basics are all I can handle. I need to be able to handle and understand that which is milk before I can learn to eat solid food.

But I want to eat solid food. I want to savor meat and potatoes. I don't want to be complacent and just drink my milk. I need to be able to handle the milk and really be nurished by it, but I want to eat it in conjunction with those meat and potatoes.

For His glory I want to eat solid food.