H.A.L.T: Throw Me an Apple, and Let Me Take a Nap!


 

I’m going to be pretty real here for a few moments.  I had a rough night/morning.  I didn’t sleep well at all.  Dan and I have a list of changes and transitions going on in our household, which I will discuss more once we have more clarity (Prayers appreciated), and I confess I let my mind go in places of worry that it didn’t need to go to last night.  Yes, I know what the word of God says.  I believe it.  I know God is with us, we will have good success, and all will be well….sigh, sometimes God gets you in situations to stretch you and work your faith and I know it’ll all work out, but I’m kind of kicking and screaming at the moment. (Joshua 1:1-10, Jer 29:11)  It is true that the battlefield is in the mind, and I know that victory is ours says the Lord. 

As a result of a super lack of sleep, I was a bit edgy this morning.  I grumped at Dan and the girls.  I made the mistake of going to the Wal-Mart closest to my house to get groceries.  English is not the primary language at that Wal-Mart.  The lady working at the deli needed a translator to fill my order.  I stood there for at least 20 minutes while she did, and I wanted to start crying.  Since my acrobatic encounter this weekend (see Monday’s Blog), my ankle is still a tad on the sensitive side and while I stood there trying to explain to the lady what I wanted I could feel my ankle starting to swell.  For some reason, maybe it’s just me, but I tend to be a target in Wal Mart for people to cut me off in grocery traffic, and for kids to be screaming near me.  Seriously?  By the time I made it to the check out and sorted my coupons I thought I might be physically ill.  I admit I wasn’t overflowing with the ‘fruit of the spirit’ at that moment.  I didn’t snap at the cashier for not being able to run a coupon through, but I wanted too.  Fortunately my kids weren’t with me at the moment because my tolerance for whining was seriously low.

Laugh at me all you want, but we’ve all been in these moments.  The coffee-would-be-nice-leave-me-alone-and-no-one-gets-hurt moments that all you can do when you’re in public is hope that no one recognizes you.  I had to repent to God a few times just for thinking the way I was. 

I had pastors years ago that used to say that if you find yourself in the H.A.L.T (hungry, angry, lonely, or tired) then perhaps you should get some time with God and figure out what’s wrong.  Perhaps those moments are not the time you want to make a life changing decision.  Perhaps all you need is a nap, thus one should listen to their body and let themselves take one.

I’d like to tell you that life is just sunshine and lollypops but it isn’t.  We all get in these moods, and we all need to learn when to just stop what we’re doing and take a nap, or have an apple, or a coffee.  We all need to learn that we have to trust God in our lives and whatever the situation we’re in now, isn’t permanent even if it feels like it is.  This too shall pass.  Our current irritations will only last for a moment.  Don’t fix your eyes on them, but on what is eternal.  Fix your eyes on Jesus and run after them. 

So yes, I had a few moments this morning.  I’ve repented and will be taking a nap later this afternoon.  Let my moment remind us all that worry isn’t worth the time and effort.  Focus on God’s goodness, and move forward.

God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited!

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

....And I broke the Pickle Jar

Image
Last week my oldest daughter came running to me for help. I had just bought a new jar of pickles and she could not open them up. Surely, Mom could do it and this was going to be an easy thing. I sometimes wonder how they get those lids so tightly on jars in the factory. I was not going to pull the wimp card but I could not get that lid off. I tried banging the bottom with the palm of my hand. I saw someone do that once. It did not work. I tried twisting it, and it would not budge. I even tried getting a butter knife and breaking the seal by trying to wedge it between the lid and the jar. Nothing was working. Dan was not home and even if he was, I really hate admitting when I cannot do something like this without his help. I was going to get that jar open! Finally I took the opposite end of a butter knife and whacked at the lid. I thought a couple smacks would make the jar open, and it did. Evidently, I do not know my own strength. With the sound of breaking glass crackin...
Read more

Spiritual Motion Sickness?

It is well known in my family that I have a history of issues with motion sickness. I don’t remember when we officially discovered this: Maybe it was the time that I spent the day at the pool in the sun and then was put in the back seat of my grandparents fairly new car to travel through the hills of Southern Ohio and I puked everywhere that told us this, Or maybe it was the time my uncle decided to travel through the mountains of Gatlinburg with the side door open in the van. Perhaps it was the issues I had with vertigo as a child but whatever it was it was learned early on that I would be fine as long as I got to sit in the front seat. I am better as an adult however; I still cannot read in a long car journey. Many people suffer from spiritual motion sickness. They have become nauseous spiritually and they do not understand why. Just like how one gets motion sickness in the physical it applies spiritually. James 1:6-8 (NIV) 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, b...
Read more

Don't Fall For the Fake Jakes!

I hope all of you had an awesome Resurrection Weekend! He is Risen!! Several weeks ago I had someone claiming to be T.D. Jakes begin communication with me on twitter. At first I brushed him off thinking there was no way he was the real T.D. However this individual was persistent. We began exchanging a few direct messages back and forth. He then proceeded to invite me to go with himself and several other ministers over to Japan to preach over there. That was when I told him to email me at my website email. The conversation continued. At first I didn’t believe at all this was the real T.D. Jakes. However the more we exchanged emails the more I really thought it might. His phrasing on how he worded things sounded like the real T.D. The text emails were coming from Texas, and it was obvious this man spent a long time familiarizing himself with T.D. and his website because of the way he wove legitimate things about the real T. D. into the conversations. This went back a forth for several we...
Read more