THE CLOSET

I will begin this post with a question.  Are your closets tidy and clean?  If they are, wow, congratulations!  Mine sure aren't.  I'm a packrat and so want to get over that trait.  My goal is to someday before I die have my closets cleaned out and in order.  I will admit to the sin of coveting when I see photos of a nice cleanly organized closet.  Mine would probably fit better on a hoarding television show.  Sad, but true.

I imagine you wonder where I'm going with this mindset.  The Husband and I watched one of my favorite inspirational movies the other night, The War Room.  Any of you who have seen it know the plot and probably remember it well, it has that kind of effect.  If you have not seen it, it focuses on the power of prayer.  I recommend it highly.  Did you hear that?  I RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY.

Every time I see the movie, I love it over and over again.  A good portion of that reason is that it sets my heart to remembrance of the power of prayer.  Prayer for family, prayer for health, prayer for our country, prayer for EVERYTHING.  

In the plot of the movie, an elderly woman has a prayer closet when she goes daily or more and prays.  She has prayers written on pages taped to the walls and such as that.  The scriptures talk about going into the closet and praying.  

I have no closet to empty so I can go in and pray.  It's just a fact.  I look at this, though, a bit differently.  I look at this as a closet of the heart.  I see it as anywhere you can be alone with Jesus and just talk to him in fervent prayer.  In my world, I talk to Him daily, sometimes more than once or twice and I talk to him as a friend.  When I go to Him in FERVENT prayer, it's in a prayer closet--a place of just me Him and me...out loud.  Those times are when I cry to Him, when I tell Him all the problems of my heart, and when I praise Him for ALL His goodness...and believe me, folks, that's a lot of praise as He's full of a lot of goodness!  It's the time of the fervent prayer that I can trust Him more and more and more with everything.  I'm learning.  Still, as I age.  I'm learning.  It's those times of fervent prayer that I can almost physically feel His hand touching me in love and assuring me that He's got all this in His control.  I leave that "closet" in peace and assurance and stronger because of it.

So, I encourage you, my friends, to find your "closet" and get in touch with the Lord.  He is the answer to all the world's problems.  He is the answer to all my problems.  He is the answer to all your problems.  You CAN trust HIM.  So I say, consider....and do it!

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."  

Matthew 6:6

FALTERING

Mr. Webster defines the word "falter" as to "start to lose strength or momentum and to move unsteadily or in a way that shows a lack of confidence".

It seems this world has caused me a lot of faltering lately.  How about you?  I sat this morning and kind of revamped my thoughts as I realized the fact that I am faltering a bit.  Okay, okay, I'm faltering a lot.....

For one thing, as this Covid 19 virus had seem to let up, so did I.  A bit.  Granted I still wear a mask when I go in public.  I have a vast array of masks of various colors and shapes and fits--my newest are a pack I bought at the local discount store with the name of a popular underwear.  Yes, they look like men's t-shirts (or men's underwear) but they're breathable, white, and match everything .  Now as I listen to the media, I find myself a bit discouraged that there are more cases revving up.  Yes, makes me falter a bit.

For another thing, I was only able to take the NSAID low dose a short time, enough of a time to make me realize how much they help my massive pain level from my hip and back.  Then, with various gastro effects, I had to leave the wonderful medicine off and now it's out of my system and the pain is back big time.  I tried to change my procedure to a week earlier--yes, the procedure should help the pain--but there were no availabilities so I will wait for August 7.  It can't get here soon enough.  Bad news is I have to quarantine a week prior, then I have to stay close in a couple of weeks after to avoid the effects that the lower immune system from the procedure will cause me.  That's three weeks.  I have a little hope that someone might cancel a week earlier and I can have that slot but, yes, makes me falter a bit.

There are other things....some sadness at departures, some concerns about future things, and "always something" as I have begun to say.  In a nutshell, life.

I was refreshed somewhat this morning as I finished my devotion.  It's from that Streams of the Desert book I was gifted with by a sweet friend.  That book's daily devotions hit my life daily more than any I have ever read.  It's mostly talked about faith--reckon I need that kind of talk?  Well, duh, of course I do.  Today it asked the question over and over, "When is the time to trust?"  That hit me hard in my faltering.  I had a strong talk with Jesus and hope I have refreshed myself to know that HE is the one that is in control of it ALL.  Goes back to that verse I quote often on this blog, Romans 8:28...remember that one?  "And we know that all things work together for good...."

Last week was summer revival at our church.  Uh huh.  In the midst of covid.  Our deacons made rules as they have the past few months that remained in place during the week.  There was social distance sitting, a few masks (yes mine when I was among the people), some assigned seats, no handshaking or hugging (and for Baptists, that's a big deal), and no hymnals.  Wow.  With all that said, I wondered how it would go.  Truly, I faltered a bit.  It actually went pretty well, I think.  The Spirit of the Lord was not hindered, one came to Jesus, and hearts were refreshed and revived.

I do want to share a little thing from baptizing Sunday.  As one who takes many of the photos, I sat in my chair alone and snapped.  I took a picture of The Grandbaby as she sat up on the curb---no she didn't social distance--oops.

I thought of all the many years past when I had taken pictures of children on that same curb or children sitting on the ground watching the baptizing....not really understanding what it meant, but fun to watch.  I thought of the bulk of those children coming to the Lord and being baptized themselves when the time came for them to come to Jesus.  As I looked at the photo, my eyes teared up as I knew that one day the same Jesus that came into all those hearts of those children before would come into the heart of The Grandbaby.  I hope I'm there taking pictures when she's baptized.    Those kinds of experiences can cause a faltering spirit to refresh for sure.

As The Grandbaby stayed with me yesterday on our regular Monday, I found myself hearing her singing.  Boy, now she has begun to enjoy singing.  Usually, it's her now favorite Trolls songs.  At first I thought that was what she was singing then I realized the words were a bit familiar.  (Trolls' songs are not familiar.)   I found myself listening closer and I realized it was a song from last week's revival and our past church services.  She was singing, "When I wake up in the morning, when I lay my head to rest, I am blessed, I am blessed."  Out of the mouth of a babe....

So....

When is the time to trust?  When I am faltering....

When is the time to trust?  When I am afraid....

When is the time to trust?  When my heart is sad....

When is the time to trust?  When all is going well....

When is the time to trust?  Always and forever!

Consider.....