Nothing 2 Bring

It is good for me to draw near to God.
PSALMS 73:28


I have not often had the time or strength to spend time with God the way I would like and feel I need, during this week. But I am reminded this afternoon, as we face extubation in about an hour, of God's grace when I don't feel I have the faith to face the unexpected. I don't feel as though I can handle the disappointment  of it not being successful. So I am grateful that my walk and my faith don't have to be connected with my feelings. Even the day I was induced- to my utter surprise- I did not seem to have much time to have a lengthy quiet time. But instead of skipping it all together in the name of busyness, I sat down for about 10 minutes, and my journal reads something like

"Lord, In the very little time I have with you today, please encourage my heart and minister to me."

And these are the verses I have written below that he led me to

Psalm 131

"1O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, hope in the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore."

AND

Isaiah 31

"1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the LORD!
4For thus the LORD said to me, "As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
so the LORD of hosts will come down
to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it."

I did not know even then how much I would need to have those verses. I had no idea I would not come home after that, but would instead deliver my son. And I have many times remembered the picture of the Isaiah passage and thougth about God's protection over us and Shepherd like a flock of birds hovering over us. So, though I have been surprised at the frailty of my faith, I am grateful that God is not. And even in the too small, too weak moments that I run to him, He is meeting me.

Here are some other encouraging quotes and scriptures that I have found  in my small time to run to God today.

Most religious people live in a sort of treadmill life, where they can calculate almost everything that will happen, but the souls that God leads out into immediate and special dealings, He shuts in where all they know is that God has hold of them, and is dealing with them, and their expectation is from Him alone.
-Mrs. Charles Cowman "Streams in the Desert"

"IF we believe that God is always at hand, always ready to hear, surely we should take delight in telling Him all our little cares, and woes, and hopes, as they flit by." 
H. L. SEDNEY LEAR

"If you have not much time at your disposal, do not fail to profit by the smallest portions of time which remain to you. We do not need much time in order to love God, to renew ourselves in His Presence, to lift up our hearts towards Him, to worship Him in the depths of our hearts, to offer Him what we do and what we suffer." 
FRANCOIS DE LA MOTHE F?NELON

"There is always time to look up to Him for His smile." 
F. B. MEYER

"These frequent looks of the heart exceedingly sweeten and sanctify our other employments, and diffuse somewhat of heaven through all our actions." 
ROBERT

We'll be in touch to let you know how everything goes. As I was reminded by an encouraging call today, regardless of what happens- we expect great things from God. Please pray and expect with us.