40 days in the wilderness....Day 6

My morning routine is fairly simple and fairly routine. I get up, get dressed, take my phone off the charger, make my tea, sit down with the Lord....for almost exactly 45 minutes. I rarely deviate from this routine because I find my day works better when I spend time with God FIRST. Though I know that to be true there are times when something takes me in a different direction. When I take my phone off the charger it automatically lights up and of course I look at it. :-) This morning I had a text and some e-mails. The text I responded to and the e-mails I read. Why? I don't know. Just did it without thinking and in between grabbing my study "stuff" and making my tea. Wrong thing to do, wrong direction to take, NOT the way I wanted my day to start.

Funny how, when routine is changed, everything else changes. Where I do my devotional first, journal a little about the devotional, pray.....just the natural leading of the Holy Spirit......but this morning, I HAD to pray FIRST because I allowed Satan to strike early and turn my morning upside down and inside out. I had to actually settle myself.....God, in his infinite wisdom, drew me right back in and for that I am so thankful.

Colossians 3:13-15 says:

When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, and he forgave all our sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. God stripped the spiritual rulers and powers of their authority. With the cross, he won the victory and showed the world that they were powerless.

Hmmm......I am not free from the power of my sinful self......isn't that the truth? I only have power IN CHRIST! My devotion asked this question:

God has given us new life in Christ. Why is that good news for you?

Isn't it just a God thing that this devotional, attached to this scripture, rescued me, lifted me, corrected me and turned my morning from a frown to a smile and straightened my path once more!? Who else, but God, could do that? Not even my own mother who might say "Dianna, I'm so disappointed in you" could correct me with such love. THAT is saying a LOT because, growing up that was something I never wanted to hear my mother say! God didn't make me feel guilty or ashamed at my thoughts and feelings but instead proves he loves me and that He WILL lead me, IF I seek him FIRST. Even if the correction is sharp, I still feel Christ's love and forgiveness for me. THAT is a beautiful thing!

Hope you had a GOD day!

XOXO