Summer Breaks

Today is July 1st...July 1st? How did that happen? Where has this year gone? It's half over! We are in the middle of sweet summertime! This is the time of year that people take a break, relax, go on vacation, go to the pool, stay up later and sleep in longer. There are BBQ's and fireworks, time with family and movie nights. This is the time that kids look forward to all school year and it's half over (at least according to the schools).

I've noticed that summer is also the time of year for a different kind of break. So often people take a break from church, a break from reading their Bible and a break from their usual fellowship with other believers. Lately I have talked with other women who say they are getting farther and farther in the pit because it has been so long since they have cracked open God's Word. They are becoming hungry for it and realizing just how empty their lives are without it. That is how I have felt since Sam was born. My daily quiet time ceased and slowly by slowly, day after day, I was slipping farther and farther away. My patience has been thin, I get frustrated more easily, I beat myself up about silly things. Now don't get me wrong-I pray all the time, thanking God for my blessings and asking Him to help me in my daily trials. My prayer time has not really suffered, but my listening time has. God can still answer our prayers even if we don't read our Bible, but so often we miss it. I heard Beth Moore describe it like this-what is more powerful than two sticks of dynamite separated? Two sticks of dynamite tied together. That is how prayer and God's Word can be. When you join the two together-nothing can stop you from living out God's purposes for your life. Satan cannot get in as many "sneak attacks" as before. When you use the two together your ready, your standing watch and you can spot his deception more easily.

Live the rest of your summer for Him! I wonder what plans He has for you-don't waste the summer away, before you know it, school will be half over and you'll be checking off your Christmas list. Time goes so fast...

For the word of God is living and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword,

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,

joints and marrow;

it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.

Everything is uncovered and laid bare

before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:12-13