VENT

The house is quiet the darkness of the night is upon us.  The lights are turned off, the doors locked and we are secure in our home.  This is one of my favorite times of day.  It is when my husband and I get to vent.  We discuss what has bothered us, how to solve situations and how not to solve situations.  We go through the discussions of how hard life is when you follow the “do right rule,” (no we haven’t always followed, but now we try to).  It is our time together for us to get rid of our trash from the day so that we can have a good nights rest. 

Do you have trash that has built up in your life?  Has it left a stench?  If so get rid of it.  Vent and get rid of your frustrations and odors that are following you around.

If you don’t have anyone to vent to remember you always have the Lord.  He wants us to come to Him.  Gods door is always open to start a conversation.  We talk He will listen, He will talk and we should listen.  No matter what emotion we are carrying God wants to hear it.  If we are joyful tell Him if we are upset tell Him.  Trust me He can handle any emotion we are having.  God is a personal God.  He is a one on one.  He wants for us to come to Him.  This communication with Him strengthens our relationship with Him. 

Even though the discussions with my husband are great going to the Lord is what we should do.  The Lord is a safe haven a nonjudgmental place to speak.  Start venting He wants to hear you his ears are open waiting for you to speak.  Whether good or bad He wants us to rely on Him. 

Psalm 50:15New International Version (NIV)

15 

and call on me in the day of trouble;

    I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

WAIT

Get up, fix my coffee, and let the dogs out my routine every morning.  As I am walking to sit down to write I notice my little dog and my big dog patiently gathered by the door looking at me.  Of course they want in, but they can stay outside for a little while.  I begin to write when I notice that they have now run around the house and are starring at me through the front door.  They won’t give up.  So what do I do?  I get up and let them in.  They are so excited they almost knock me over when I open the door.  As I write they both sit beside me just starring at me, but now with calmness in their eyes. 

My mind goes to my life when I have been waiting on the Lord.  You may have experienced the same scenario.  You need answers, you want answers.  You are desperately seeking for the Lord to guide you to what you need to do.  You run from one door to the next hoping that He will notice and open it.  You are anxious and your patience in running thin.  But you don’t give up.  You have faith that He will finally get to you. 

This is true.  He doesn’t finally get to us.  He is always with us it just takes him longer to open the door.  It is through this process that we are growing in our faith.  He is strengthening us by the waiting.  It is through all of our experiences that we learn how to run through life with excitement even when we are entangled in heart wrenching circumstances. 

There are situations throughout the Bible of people who had to wait.  Abraham had to wait 100 years for a child, David had to wait 15 years to be King, Moses walked for 40 long years in the desert, and Joseph was in a dungeon for 10 years. 

Our wait may seem long, but I am sure that it isn’t as long as the people of Biblical times.  You can withstand the wait.  It is when you do that your faith is built.  Don’t let the wait make you hopeless.  Instead let it give you greater hope for what God has in store for you. 

FLOOD

As I drove over the river I looked down to see the parks completely under water.  Water has outstretched past the normal confines and covered all of the land that is in the low plains.  If you are located beside a river, you are defiantly under water.  Lives have been lost and crops completely destroyed because of the overflowing large amounts of water. 

When are lives are submerged in the swamp there is only one thing to do and that is to flood yourself with the Lord.  When we go to the Lords word we are immersed with the overwhelming wisdom that the pages have to offer.  Instead of drowning we will be filled to the brim with the help we need. 

Powerfully forward and upward is where we will go when we are covered with God’s word.  The surge of comfort will cascade through us and out of us to others. 

Colossians 3:16-17New International Version (NIV)

16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Flood others lives with how you are living through and with Him.  When you do they will be completely filled with Him. 

2 Timothy 4:2New International Version (NIV)

2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

JOURNEY

Journey, are you on a journey?  Dictionary .com gives the definition as traveling from one place to another, a distance, a course, and a period of travel, passage or progress from one stage to another.  Yesterday a dear friend of mine and I were discussing our journey’s.  We are both on journeys that we really have no idea where we are going.  We think we know but are not sure.  It has taken both of us distance and time.  The course hasn’t been easy at times.  There have been peaks and valleys during the progress.  The thing that we both have in coming is that we have stayed on this passage.  We haven’t given up or stopped our traveling.  We understand that it is a distance that may take miles and miles, but we are gaining knowledge from this period of travel. 

We are all on journeys.  You are on a journey of your life.  You may have traveled over mountains and rocky plains or you may have been on the flatlands of the prairie.  Either terrain is exactly where you are supposed to be.  Your progress depends on you relying on God.  He has lined out your journey for you.  He is aware of all obstacles that are on your passage.  It is on the different roads of our journey that we find strength through Him.   

Whether you are putting on your rain boots to wade through the flooded waters or flip-flops to bask in the sun the Lord is by your side.  He will never leave you.  Continue on your life journey; trust in Him and where He is leading you. 

Psalm 18:30New International Version (NIV)

30 

As for God, his way is perfect:

    The Lord’s word is flawless;

    He shields all who take refuge in him.

FIELD

When you are twenty-one days behind planting your crops you work from 4:30am to 10:pm.  If I want to see my husband the farm is where I have to go.  Last night at 9:00pm I went out to ride in the tractor while he pulled drains.  Off we went through a field that had been ripped, scratched and bedded.  The only thing this field lacked was the proper ditching so that the water would drain properly.  Traveling over the bedding was like a rough set of moguls while you are skiing.  The ride was bouncy and choppy.  When we would get over the beds to the turn rows the ride was smooth.  I couldn’t wait to get past the rough rows and to the easy riding. 

Our lives are like that of a bean field.  We can be ripped apart and the surface of our feelings scratched with anxiety.  We ride along with rough patches that are waiting for the circumstances that bring hardships to drain out of our lives.  We finally come to the turn rows where our situations turn around and become smooth again. 

To make our life rides smoother our Lord is with us to give us peace.  It is not up to us to figure out how to smooth the soil we must leave it up to Him.  He will pull the plug draining our lives of the hardships that have filled our lives with roughness. 

2 Peter 1:4 God has given us great and precious promises so that through these promises we can escape the corruption that the world causes.  It is when and only when we turn over our fields of rough patches to Him that He will drain them of the unnecessary dirty water and cleanse us with His peace.