Choose life

Monday, July 9

We are given two options in this life: life and prosperity or death and destruction (Deuteronomy 30:15).  What God demands of us isn’t too difficult or beyond our capacity. It’s really quite simple. I recall Lori, my mentor, says that about praying with the engineer, “It’s really pretty simple.” We simply need to put God’s word into our mouth and in our heart so we may obey it.

Camping is fun and great to be in God’s creation, enjoying the lakes He’s given us. But honestly, by day 3, it’s hard for me to choose the life and prosperity. It may be fatigue, it may be that I’m a homebody and want my home, my routine, but whatever the reason, I find it hard to be obedient to God’s Word. I was faced with having to submit to the engineer in a silly matter really. (But when I’m struggling with being obedient to Christ, it doesn’t take much to make me falter.) We had differing views of how to strike camp. I began repeating Colossians 3:12 , “Clothe me in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” on a walk with the calculating one. I admitted to her that I was struggling with wanting to do something my way, not daddy’s and asked her to pray for me. As she did, 1 Corinthians 13:5 came to my mind, “Love does not demand it’s own way.” Making my way through the rest of the day, God gave me the grace to respond to situations the way that He asks me to, not the way my flesh wanted to.

And later, I realized, what a gift my golden heads are to me. I often ask them to pray for me when I’m struggling and they immediately stop what they are doing and pray for their momma. I have had friends in Montana who would do that, and I miss their faces dearly, but I felt God say to me, I’ve given you the gift of friendship with your daughters, enjoy them! Thanks be to my Lord for giving me the gift of friendship and the realizing that I have to choose life and prosperity. Oh that You would be gracious and allow me to choose life the next time my flesh tries to overcome me.