He Understands!

The Vineyard

Dear Friends:

Today I missed my Bible reading and the time I set aside for prayer for the first time in many, many months.  There was a time when I thought that if I failed to read my Bible and spend the early morning in prayer that God would be disappointed in me—I even feared that something bad might happen to me or that I would miss His blessings by omitting this ritual from my life each and every day.

But today I missed my “morning watch” because I was a slightly sick (a cold) and very tired (four boys to care for!).  Rarely do I allow myself to “sleep in”, but last night and this morning I was totally spent—-I could not rise early and even ended up getting the boys to school late!

I have opined before about how frail our bodies really are and how easily we can be sapped of strength in a split second!  But raising four young men has caused me to micro-manage my life, time, strength and resources as I never have before.  And what I have found is that I still have enough time to do the essential and required things in life, but I don’t have much time to “chew the fat”, and I now rarely watch movies, TV or surf the internet. There are more important things in my life now.

I’ll get back into my routine tomorrow, I believe, and I will be happier doing it! But I don’t believe that God loves me less or is disinclined to bless me because I failed to have a quiet time this morning—-He’s a much “bigger” God than that…. and He understands.

And that’s my big word today—-He understands.  It gives me courage and confidence to go out into the world and make some choices that could be quite bad for my business and ministry if I chose wrongly. But God understands my limited abilities and experience. And if I humbly admit, “I am tired”, “I don’t know what to do”, “I am not sure I can trust him/her Lord”, “I am afraid about this situation”, etc, etc—-HE UNDERSTANDS AND DIRECTS MY PATHS.

I don’t have to stammer and stutter as I explain why I slept in late today—- praise God, He understands and is on my side in this matter.  But the same is true, of course, when I attempt to deceive others or myself in regard to the true intentions of my heart. Although He loves me grandly, He also holds me to a higher standard than those that do not know Him.

Warmly,

Dean Barley

The Vineyard

Dean@VineyardCamp.com

336 351 2070

919 360 8493 (Mobile)