Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 5 Focus Day 3 Covered

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves…
The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3:7, 21‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When we mess up, the first response is usually to hide just like Adam and Eve did in the garden. There’s something to be said about going to things first ever mentioned in the Bible. Every time I start at the first mention, of any topic I am studying, I learn not only how relevant the Bible is today but how cyclical humanity is.

In the beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned, disobeyed God and bought the lie, hook, line and sinker from the devil, the Bible says, “they hid… they sewed together fig leaves… and covered themselves.” We do the same thing or at the very least, want to do that when we mess up but maybe as a seasoned believer you’ve already learned it’s best to go straight to Father with your sin. After all, He is the only remedy to our sin. When we try to cover our sin, it looks just as awkward as sewn together fig leaves over our bodies and I bet if we were to be honest, our man-made coverings like guilt, condemnation, shame, denial, anger, fear, frustration, depression and more tangible coverings like addiction, promiscuity, over eating, workaholic…. (you get the idea) aren’t exactly a good fit, they completely makes us uncomfortable in our own skin. We find ourselves avoiding God all together and completely avoiding looking ourselves in the eye in the proverbial mirror. Can I just let you know that you or I are not hiding it from God any better than Adam and Eve did in their day?

Fast forward to after God has a conversation with Adam and Eve, explaining their consequences and banishment to the lovely place we call “the world as we know it” today. But before God banishes them, He covers them with His covering, made by Him, just for them. It does not specify in the text but there is a covering that I envision and that is the Armor of God.
I highly recommend reading the whole armor of God in the Amplified Version of the Bible. Here is a snippet: “Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:13‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Imagine if Adam and Eve had stood their ground and obeyed like this verse declares.

Read Ephesians 6:10-20 Amplified version.

God knew that Adam and Eve needed His supernatural covering and that nothing man-made was going to survive the battle for redemption ahead of them and us. God had a plan right from the beginning of the first mention of disobedience. He took the mess they tried covering themselves up with and covered them with a custom covering, for now. Until these earthly bodies fade away and we receive our perfect body that will last for all of eternity in heaven.

I believe God sent them out of the garden with His spiritual covering equivalent to the armor of God spoken of here in Ephesians 6, until He returned as Son of man and Son of God at the garden of Gethsemane. That blood of Salvation from Calvary covers our sin today until Jesus returns to take us home. We are covered by Him today as we battle through this fallen world together. You are covered by what you pray in agreement to like the blood of Jesus and the armor of God. You are covered by the Holy Spirit who is the guide God has given us until He returns.

My family’s Paraphrased Version of the Armor. We pray this every morning.
Lord, I pray that the helmet of salvation would cover my mind and filter out anything that is not of you from my eyes, my ears and my mouth, thank you for the breastplate of righteousness that covers my heart and everything that keeps me alive and productive, I choose to buckle the belt of truth around my waist that holds me and my armor together, I step into your shoes of peace, I choose to walk in peace with You, God, others and myself, I lock my shield of faith in place with yours and other believers, Lord, to extinguish every fiery dart from the enemy, not by faith in myself or others but my faith in you, Lord, I hold up my sword of the spirit which is the word of God, dividing good from evil, truth from lies and bone from marrow to defeat the enemy and fight for truth. I am covered by you, Lord. Amen.

“You forgave your people’s guilt; you covered all their sin. Selah”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭85:2‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to you immediately. When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭32:5-6‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 5 Focus Day 2 Identity

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:13-16‬ ‭MSG‬‬

God, You, created us with such great joy and delight. You loaned us to our family for a season until we would be with You in paradise. What a concept. To fully identify with this verse and believe it is a huge milestone in our faith-walk level of maturity. Not to just see these verses as poetic masterpieces but to see ourselves as the Uncreated One’s living, breathing, reflection of His favorite design.

Maybe your parents encouraged you in believing that you are loved, purposed and valued. Maybe your parents made you feel like a mistake, a burden or unwanted. Either way, you and I were on loan to them.

You are not a mistake. You were made for a specific purpose by God before he began to shape your baby toe. The rest of the world may not understand your place in this world but it’s not their job to figure that out, it’s yours. Once you do, your whole view will go from darkness to light.

Lord, help us look to eternal You for our identity rather than this temporary world. This is not our final destination, You are. Help us identify, with Your guidance, who we are to you and why that matters. May we never accept the lie of being a mistake or unwanted, by people that were supposed to love us. May we be grateful for those that pointed us to You. Amen.

“See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 5 Focus Day 1 My God

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:1-4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Who is God to me? Have you ever really pondered the relationship you have with God or the depth of it? If someone were to ask you who God is and why do you believe in Him, do you have an answer? I pray you do, and if you don’t, I pray that you study His character, His integrity and His heart, until you sense His heart beat as you lean against His chest. I pray you feel the very breath in your lungs from Him as you sense His cheek against your cheek. I pray that He becomes the safe place that you run to instead of thinking He’s an angry God that you have to run from, every time you mess up.

My God, our God is the uncreated one who created every living thing with a few simple sentences. But for us, His beloved, He formed us with His very hands and breathed life into our lungs. We are His image bearers with His very fingerprints engraved in our skin as He shaped us ever so delicately before placing us in our mother’s womb. How precious the thought and care He took to design each of us. No one, no not one, will love me, like my God, my Creator and my Savior. My God created the light to consume the darkness before He would allow me to be here. My God has been providing an environment for me to thrive in long before I got here.

Lord, I pray that we do not miss the details in which you brought us to life to have a relationship with You. That every detail of the preparations You made to provide us everything we need for an abundant life here, while on this temporary journey. How much more do we have to look forward to, when we get to heaven? Heaven, where sin and death are defeated for all of eternity. Help us, Lord, keep our eyes on You and what you have created so that we have that hope, that light inside of us to share with others. Amen.

“All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1:3-5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 4 Nothing Wasted Day 7 Clocked into Purpose

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬ CSB

It all looks good in verses, sermons and devotionals, but how do we clock into purpose? We can not apply what we do not know and or if we do not understand the why behind the do, or the how behind the apply.

Be careful, as we grow in Christ, to not be condescending towards someone who is not where you are yet. Be in tuned and always remember the wretch you were before you point out others wretched behavior.

I’m going to break it down; the how to clock into purpose steps. This is simple but it is a process. Everyone’s process is different. The first goal is to commit to never stop taking these steps through the process. The second goal is to allow yourself to be shaped and molded by the process rather than try to reshape the process to make it more comfortable. It’s okay if it’s uncomfortable. This is where the learning takes place.

Clocking into purpose will be familiar because it aligns with how God designed you. Your sinful nature, also known as the flesh, will fight you every step of the way to fulfilling your purpose, so be ready for the fight. Just remind yourself to be on the right side of the fight for your purpose.

Here are the steps:

Know who God is to you.
Know who you are to God.
Know why that matters.

These 3 simple steps will take the entire span of your life, while you’re on loan here, to master, but it will give you the confidence for and about eternity.

Next week we will discuss 7 areas to focus on to help us define who God is to us, find our identity in who He says we are to Him and learn why that matters in the process.

Lord, we are a mess without You. Thank You for the process. Thank You for taking my messy self and making something beautiful out of my mess. Help me focus on getting to know You and me better so that I understand the quality of life that my relationship with You brings to me and those around me. Amen.

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 4 Nothing Wasted Day 6 Dare to dream

“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait eagerly for it with patience and composure.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:25‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Nothing crushes our dreams like traumatic experiences and basic adult responsibilities. As a child we dream big about what we will do when we grow up. Some kids have the joy and privilege of a home that encourages their dreams, some have parents who to try to control their dreams, some have parents that want you to pursue THEIR dreams instead of your own and some parents crush their kid’s dreams with abuse, negligence and abandonment. Regardless of what kind of childhood you had, you can still dare to dream.

We’ve covered so much in the past 4 weeks about distractions, giving our battle to God, grieving and facing what we have lost and now placing what belongs in the past, in the past, while learning from it, embracing our present, by living with the reality of our now, to looking forward to a hopeful future. None of this is possible without leaning consistently on God’s strength. If we lean on our own strength we will burn out.

I challenge you to dare to dream like you did as a child. Dare to live a life of passion and purpose. I dare you to ask God to break your heart for what breaks His. I dare you to start something you put off that you can’t stop thinking about. I dare you to dream.

Lord, the hints of what makes us who we are, because of who You are, started in our childhood. I understand that not everyone grew up in an environment that nurtured and developed their uniqueness. I pray that we remember our dreams of our youth, that the opportunity to develop that purpose and passion would be ignited inside of us once again so we could be walking out the journey made just for us. Help us, Lord, dare to dream, with that child like faith. Amen.

“It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus. So all of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, and if anyone thinks differently, God will reveal it to him or her. Only let’s live in a way that is consistent with whatever level we have reached.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:12-16‬ ‭CEB‬‬

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 4: Nothing Wasted Day 2: Live in the present

“Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:27‬ ‭CEB‬‬

Living in the present is much more achievable if we can leave the past behind us and plan for the future without worrying about the future.

Whether you have a train wreck behind you or sweet little bunny path full of sweetness for a past, your past is done. All you can do is embrace what is in front of you because as we learned from our grief week, it is all temporary. If we dwell on and beat ourselves up about the past or stress about the future, we rob ourselves of what is in front of us.

We can learn a lot from the past by simply pulling out that “ugly journal” we discussed in prior weeks and write down every time we freaked out about something that ended up turning out better than we ever imagined. When you start to stress, read and remind yourself that everything is going to be okay. I also like to add that it may not be the okay I planned for but it will be okay.

When you find yourself uttering the words, “could’ve”, “should’ve” or “would’ve”, stop, say out loud “Not productive, not going to help me.” Rather than verbally bash yourself and put yourself in a position to not be able to change what’s done, give yourself advice on how you will do it differently. That’s all you can do is learn from it and do it differently next time. Then trust God in the process.

By removing the weight of your yesterdays and the heaviness of the uncertainties of tomorrow, from your today, you can live in the present. If you’re a professional worrier, make it a point to become a warrior of prayer. Turn every worry into a conversation with God. Tell Him exactly what you are concerned about and then stick to what is directly in front of you, right now.

Toby Mac once said something so profound that really helped me get the concept of living in the present moment:
“We worry about tomorrow like it’s promised”

Lord, we are a work in progress but we are also your vessel of spreading the good news. Help us be more aware of what we bring into our present moments that do not belong there. Help us focus on the gift of this day and show up for every divine appointment. Amen.

“Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬ ‭CEB‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week4 #nothingwasted #live #present

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 3 Day 7 Grief: New normal

“King David longed to go to Absalom, for David had finished grieving over Amnon’s death.”
‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭13:39‬ ‭CSB‬‬

When we lose someone we love or a season comes to an end that brought us much comfort and joy, we grieve. How we grieve matters. Avoiding grief will catch up with us eventually. If you are reading this and have not read Days 1-6 of week 3, I highly recommend doing so now. Do not avoid the process of grieving.

Before you go thinking that I do not understand loss, let me share a few of my most painful losses. At 4 years old, I watched our home burn to the ground with all of our belongings in it. Shortly after, my parents divorced. At 9 years old my father was murdered. At 10 years old my mother married my first of many abusers. I have lost people I loved to suicide, I thought that I could have saved. I have had 2 miscarriages. I lost my grandparents, my mom and my father figure within 5 years of of each other. I lost my best friend of 40 years unexpectedly to a heart condition (she was 50). I have lost relationships I thought would never end. Friendships with people and families had come to an abrupt end with no conversation as to why. I have known great success and great loss to the point that I feared being homeless.

In all of that pain that I experienced, of losing so much, I realized how temporary anything but God is. I have accepted that death is inevitable for anything or anyone that carries breath in their lungs. Death will take me by surprise but it does not have to take me down to the point of losing my life before my time is up. There is no way to escape death. We will experience it ourselves one day and will likely experience losing someone we know and or love to it. The most hopeful thing I’ve ever been offered is an eternity beyond this life; an eternity with the one who created me and loaned me to earth for a time; an eternity with no more tears, no more sadness, no more sickness, no more broken relationships and no more death. We are all on loan here from the moment of conception to death. Maybe that’s why the two greatest commandments are:

to love God with all of your heart, all of your mind and all of your soul. 2. To love your neighbor as yourself. With those two commandments the goal is to know our Maker’s voice when He calls us home. We want to treat everyone kindly while they’re on loan to us because we never know when their time is up.

In my opinion, birth is a sign of God’s gift of life while death is reminder of the timeline most of pay no attention to. As a believer in God, I can accept the timeline He gives me because I know it doesn’t end here. Therefore I must tell others that are still here about eternity and share this hope with them.

Lord, death is the most painful part of life, this side of eternity. Help us honor the living and the time our loved ones were on loan to us. Help us process grief in a way that brings honor to the ones we say goodbye to, for now. Amen.

“Then David got up and he washed himself. He put on clean clothes and special oil that had a good smell. He went into the Lord ‘s house to worship him. Then he returned to his own house and he asked for food. They gave it to him and he ate it.”
‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭12:20‬ ‭EASY‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week3 #grief #acceptance #newnormal

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 3 Day 6 Grief: Acceptance

“There is a right time for everything that we do under the sun. There is a time to be born. And there is a time to die. There is a time to plant seeds. Then the seeds will grow and they will become plants. And there is a time to pick the plants.”
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:1-2‬ ‭EASY‬‬
“There is a time to weep. And there is a time to laugh. There is a time to be sad. And there is a time to dance.”
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭3:4‬ ‭EASY‬‬

When the fog begins to lift, reality sets in, and we’re squinting to find the light in the darkness, this is the beginning of acceptance. It is not stable at first but each day we take a step in the direction of our reality is a step closer to living with this loss. It does not mean that we won’t experience the other steps in the grieving process ever again. It just means they will reintroduce themselves with different levels of intensity at different lengths of time every time We are reminded that our loved one is not here.

What it does mean is that I loved this person while they were here and I will miss them deeply. My faith tells me, reminds me of the timeline they had, I have and others too. My faith also reminds me that I will see them again. I rest in this hope while I build up the strength to live life without them. I find ways to remember them well and share the impact that they had on my life. I choose to live and embrace the people I have around me and let them in on my pain. I choose to not isolate and choose to embrace the plan and purpose God has for me while I walk out my own timeline. None of us know when our time is up. Nobody makes it out alive, therefore, this loss should come as no surprise, it absolutely catches us off guard and it does come with pain and sorrow. While I work it all out through grieving what and who I have loved when it’s their time to go I will hope again and cherish the memories.

Lord, help me accept my loss in a way that shows my deep love for them while acknowledging the empty space they leave behind. Lord, fill that space with comfort, peace, love and joy. Help me carry on without them as I finish my own journey. Help me allow others permission to grieve how they need to. Help me walk in hope for the future here on earth and hope in eternity. Amen.

“Yes, you will have trouble like this for a short time. But after that, God will make everything right. He is completely kind and he will always help you. Because you belong to Christ, God has chosen you to live with him in heaven for ever. You will join him in that beautiful place. Then God will make you well again. He will make you strong in your spirits. You will be able to stand strongly. Yes, God rules with power for ever! Amen! This is true!”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭5:10-11‬ ‭EASY‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week3 #grief #acceptance #hope

Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 3 Day 5 Grief: Depression

“I hear your waterfalls make a noise like thunder. It seems like all that water is pouring over me and it knocks me down to the ground.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭42:7‬ ‭EASY‬‬

Depression from loss is normal. It would be odd to not be sad when someone we love so much is no longer with us. It would be out of character to not be sad when a situation we found joy and contentment in has now ended abruptly or unexpectedly. To the same extent that we loved is the extent we will experience sorrow when that person or situation is gone. That sorrow is temporary but cyclical at times. We eventually learn to balance the sadness from our loss with the demands of living.

This becomes a problem when we stay in that sadness and not learn to find away to live without them or the situation. Though everyone grieves at different stages for different lengths of time, we must live, while we grieve. Ease ourselves back into the familiar routines that use up space and time that would be used to rehearse the pain. Part of our healing comes from living again as well as going from surviving our loss to coping with our loss. You might have doubts right now because it’s still fresh but it is possible. So, if you’re trapped in the process of depression, if you’re so immobilized by the pain of your loss that you can hardly get out of bed, make a sandwich or enjoy the many dishes of food brought to you by friends and family, it’s time to find a grief counselor. It’s time to think about asking for help. You are not as alone as you feel. God is with you, weeping with you and there are grief counseling groups, therapists and grief resources available to you. Friends mean well but they’re usually not equipped to help you out of depression. There are coping skills that a professional grief counselor can provide, if you’re willing.

The atmosphere of depression typically sets in the week after all of the arrangements have been made, the services are done, your autopilot has turned off, you do not have to be strong for anyone else, all of the company has gone home and you’re surrounded by food that will spoil before you can finish it, a card-box full of condolences and funeral arrangements. The tears flow and you fall asleep on a tear soaked pillow or worse you choke back the tears because you’re afraid once they start, you won’t be able to stop them.

This depression, this sadness will pass. And when it does, it does not mean that the person you love and lost is forgotten. It means, that you grieved and it’s time to learn how to honor their time here while you honor the time you have left with the ones still here.

Cry as much as your body tells you to. It will release toxins and help cleanse away the pain. Get into a grief group or at least meet with a grief counselor. But whatever you do do not try to battle this alone. Do not let the sadness convince you that you’re alone.

Lord, this stage of grief is so confusing and a blur when we look back on it. Help us reach out when the heaviness of our loss goes from normal, temporary depression to a clinical kind of depression. Trigger something in us to know when to ask for help. Lord, we thank you for never leaving us though we may feel like You’ve abandoned us. Feelings are not fact, they are like an indicator light on the dashboard of our car that help us navigate through our life journey. Help us respond accordingly in the best way, for the best outcome. Amen.

“God will take away all the tears from their eyes. Nobody will ever die again. Nobody will be sad again. Nobody will ever cry. Nobody will have pain again. Everything that made people sad has now gone. That old world has completely gone away.’”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:4‬ ‭EASY‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week3 #grief #depression

Beautifully Broken by K.Howard

Week 2 Nobody Makes It Out Alive Day 6 The battle is won

“At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.

They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭24:1-8‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Everything about our Christian faith hinges on the validity of this day. The day the stone was rolled away, the day the empty tomb was found, the moment that many who thought Jesus was dead saw with their own eyes that he was very much alive.

Lord, this is our crossroads to believe or not believe that you won the battle over sin and the grave for us. Let us never stop reading the accounts of your ministry, your suffering for our benefit, your death on the cross and your magnificent resurrection. Let us see the track record of prophetic fulfillment where ever you are mentioned in the Bible. Let us live like we believe it. Amen.

“He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. He said, “You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to hear and see it. You’re the witnesses. What comes next is very important: I am sending what my Father promised to you, so stay here in the city until he arrives, until you’re equipped with power from on high.” Then he said, “Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this: All the things written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms have to be fulfilled.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭24:44-49‬ ‭MSG‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week2 #thecross #believe #battle #victory #heisalive #heisrisen

Lenting along

Does anyone else feel like they’re just lenting along with the believer crowd, during this time of year? Though I’ve participated for many years, I didn’t want to mimic the catholic version but rather to truly consider the next 40 days in Jesus’s shoes. I did a little research, realized that the penance motivation of the believer is nothing compared to the penance of the one who never sinned, Jesus.

Christ fasted and prayed as he approached the cross on our behalf, because of our sin. And even if I chose to walk out these 40 days the exact same way that He did, I would never make the cut to hang on that cross and redeem all of mankind. Absolutely, profound.

We believers can lent around with somber faces over giving up modern day conveniences all we want but at the end of the day, I’m not going to call that a sacrifice compared to Jesus’s endurance of the cross.

I refuse to reduce the days of lenting around with fellow believers as my sacrifice to God’s redemptive plan for me. I won’t even call it gratitude for what He’s done for me. What I will do is allow the disruption to my normal routine and my full belly to remember what He did and still gave me the option to choose.

If you want to lent around with me, this is what I’m doing for the next 40 days. I’m disrupting my daily routine of coffee, read/write/study and ending my night with reading and ice cream with this:

1. Fast all coffee, ice cream and first two meals replaced with protein drink, but keep dinner with family. No devices at the table no matter what is going on with work.

2. Start the day with a shower and dressed for the day. (This is kind of big one though it may not seem like it, since I work from home)

3. Read the word and journal whatever comes to mind. Keeping a prayer journal for the things I’m fasting and praying for. I want to experience a move of God in my life and the people I’m praying for.

It’s simple but a completely different routine for me. I want to wake up each day with the mentality of, “I’m ready to do Your will today, Lord. Whether it’s here in my home, or prepared to walk out the door with no notice. I want to remember that the tomb is empty, you have risen, you are alive, you are preparing a place for me, you are coming back for me.”

I would love to hear how you are spending the next 40 days?

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