Did you leave room for cream?

Room for Cream

"The thief comes only to steal, and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10 (NIV)

 

Today’s devotion from Encouragement for Today from Psalms 31 Ministries dealt with coffee, my life line, and was absolutely wonderful. Titled ‘Room for Cream” and written by Marybeth Whalen, it discussed how often we clutter our lives with all the “have-to’s” and ignore the need to add the things that bring us joy and help us “reach that place of abundance Jesus wants us to live in now”.

Cream adds sweet, light and rich texture to our coffee. God wants to add these elements to our life. I can add sweet to my life by making time for my friends; listening to my daughter and husband intentionally when they talk to me; scheduling fun things on my calendar; reading books for the fun of it; and taking time to rest and recharge.

I add light to my life when I spend time in God’s word; journaling about what He has said to me; pouring out my anxieties and worries to Him and listening for His response.

I add richness to my life by using my time and talents for others; tithing and giving to missions; providing meals and/or words of encouragement to others and surrendering to God’s word.

These things are not going to happen without intentional effort on my part. They require action. Adding these things to my daily schedule will help me reach my life of abundance. I don’t know about you but I want to leave room for cream in my life.

Dear Lord, help me to live the life of abundance You called for me to live—a life that is sweet and white and rich. Help me remember that I have to leave room in my life for abundance or it will always elude me. Help me to seek You first and let You show me how to leave room for cream. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Application Steps:

If you brew coffee at home or order a cup at a coffee shop today, while you're waiting for it spend time praying for God to show you ways you can leave room for cream in your life. Resolve to think about having an abundant life every time you fix your coffee.

Reflections:

What does an abundant life look like? What would fall in my sweet, white and rich categories?

Power Verses:

Psalm 65:11, "You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance." (NIV)

Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (NIV)

God’s silence never equals God’s slumber. (Beth Moore)

"Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius." ~Georges-Louis Leclerc

Still waiting on ANCC’s ok to schedule my practitioner exam. Still studying during the waiting. Trying to stay focused. Trying not to go stir crazy without a job. Trying to enjoy the time without a job but no job means no moola. God is not denying me. He is making me wiser!!! 

PATIENCE: the purpose of the pit is to purify and then resto...

PATIENCE: the purpose of the pit is to purify and then resto...: "On the website Girlfriends for God today, Mary Southerland makes some interesting points about patience. She didn’t realize she was writi..."

the purpose of the pit is to purify and then restore.

On the website Girlfriends for God today, Mary Southerland makes some interesting points about patience. She didn’t realize she was writing to me. I will share some of the points she made.

1.  Wait.  The psalmist simply says, "I waited." Waiting is not passive. Waiting is meant to be a time of preparation, a time of rest and healing,  

• To wait means to accept the pit.  Isaiah 45:3 (NIV) "I will give you hidden treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name."  

Any time "LORD" is capitalized in Scripture, it means "Abba Father." This verse indicates that our Father has gone before us and in every dark moment or painful circumstance has buried a treasure or stored a secret. The only way we can find the treasure or learn the secret is to pass through that darkness. Some things cannot be learned in the light. To wait means to accept the pit, knowing it is for our good.  (Lord, what treasure am I to find in this darkness?)

• To wait means to admit there is a problem.  Isaiah 40:29 (NLT) "He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak."   

Emotional health begins at the point of emotional integrity with a willingness to say "I need help!" It’s ok to share and expose your weakness as long as you are taking them to God first.  A shared load is a lighter load. We were created to need each other.

• To wait means to be still.  Psalm 40:1 "I waited …"

So much about God can never be known on the run. Anyone that knows me knows that being still is my weakness. I have to move something even if I’m sitting. I need to fold clothes or sew while I watch TV. If I am listening to a lecturer/speaker, I have to doodle. I equate being still with being lazy. I think I have been on the run for so long these past six years that God is imparting STILLNESS on me rather I like it or not. I want to learn what it is He is preparing me for during this time of induced PATIENCE.

2.  Be patient.  It took twenty-two years for the McDonald's hamburger chain to make its first billion dollars. It took IBM forty-six years and Xerox sixty-three years to make their first billion. Harvey Mackay, in his book Swim with the Sharks, tells of an interview with the 88-year-old President of Japan's largest and most successful electrical enterprise. The interview went as follows:
Question: Mr. President, does your company have long-range goals?
Answer: "Yes."
Question: "How long are your long-range goals?"
Answer: "Two hundred and fifty years."
Question: "What do you need to carry them out?"
Answer: "Patience."
David said, "I waited patiently for the Lord." The word "patiently" means "without tiring and with perseverance."  Lord, I have the perseverance down; help me to do so w/o tiring.
The issue I am facing may not be the problem you are facing, but at some point in life, we will all face some kind of pit. It may be a pit that we have dug with our own hands of wrong choices or it could be a pit that has been uniquely designed for us by the enemy. But a pit is a pit - a place of paralyzing fear and numbing doubt that is constantly fed by our human frailty and desperate attempts to escape the darkness.
The good news is that God is drawn to broken people. Psalm 40:1 says "He turned to me." Notice it does not say that David turned to God. Honestly, I doubt David had the strength to turn to God … so God turned to him. God heard the cry of David and he will hear yours. I don't know if you are in a pit and need help or if someone you love is in that pit and needs your help, but one thing I do know is that the purpose of the pit is to purify and then restore. Right now, surrender the broken pieces of your life to God. He can and will bring you out of the dark. 

Psalm 40:1-3. "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."  (All we have to do is ONE thing: wait. If we can do ONE thing, he will do the other five listed. Will you wait?)