Drought.

Wow.  What a week.  I'm not sure where to start.  I'll begin here: For the past several weeks or possibly even couple of months, I have been going through a drought.  I am dry and have not been seeking God.  I have been going through a spiritual drought.  I haven't been on any sort of radical path of destruction, but I have been merely living.  Getting by day to day, with no interaction with God.  Lately, since school has started back, I feel overwhelmed, like I have no time for anything.  Last Sunday, I talked with one of my good friends, Joy Petty, and we decided to get together on Tuesday for coffee and to talk about life and to get advice from things that have come up in my blog.  From Sunday through Tuesday, I began to pray to God that He would speak to me and help me with work and to speak to me through Joy.  (I don't see how you could teach prek and not be a Christian.  It is HARD.) I also began to pray that God would give me direction into how to go about spending time with Him throughout the week.  I never feel like I have the time.  I decided that I would get up early before school Monday morning and take some time to pray.

Monday morning alarm came.  I hit the snooze.  I had missed it.  I thought my sleep was more important I guess.  So then I knew my day was jammed full.  I would not have time for prayer or Bible study today.  Then, after school that day, something happened that ONLY God could do.  My prek classroom, as I have told you, is packed full of stuff.  A lot of it I don't need.  So I decided to load up a bunch of the stuff in my car, drive to the back of the school, and see if the prek shed had any room in it (since my garage clearly doesn't.)  It had a little room in it, so I unloaded all the stuff and went to drive back around the school.  (One way road behind the school.)  As I started to come around the back of the building, I realized there was a forever long line of cars blocking the way out of the school.  Apparently chorus parents were there to pick up their kids.  Quickly, I decided to put it in reverse to see if I could find another way out.  Too late.  Cars were already lining up behind me.  I was stuck with a million things that I needed to get done.  Figuring I was gonna be there a while, I reached for my phone to call Adam and talk to him for a while.  I did not have my phone.  This has pretty much never happened before.  I left my phone in my classroom cause I  knew I would be coming right back.  I realized right away that this was an opportunity from God.  Even though I had neglected Him earlier, I was getting another chance.  I prayed right there in the car rider line.  I was so excited that I had received interaction from God.  It was amazing.  I hadn't spent time with Him in a long time.  I was so happy to know God hadn't forgotten me.

Then Tuesday night I met with Joy.  I enjoy talking to her so much.  I shared some of the things I've been going through lately.  She gave me a solution to all of it that I didn't see coming.  Get in the Word.  Read.  Daily.  Many times a day.  Ignore the messages of the world, and read what God says.  It sounds simple.  I wish it were.  Why is it so easy to try everything else but read God's word?  Sometimes I feel like I would rather read a "self help" book, look things up online, talk to other Christian girls, etc.  But why can't I just read the Bible?  It's great to do all those other things, but my first resource should be God and His Word.  I decided that was what I needed to do. 

So the next morning, I got up and read my Bible.  I started in the back of the Bible, looking up key words such as "Patience" (for my prek kids and daily life).  I looked up the verses and wrote some of them down.  I prayed that God would help me in this area.  I planned to continue to through the week getting up every morning and reading the Word.  I got sick, and my plan failed. 

What I needed (besides reading God's Word) was to have Him pierce my heart again.  My heart had become cold to Him and indifferent.  I wish I had known that was part of what I needed, because then I would have prayed for it.  But God knew anyway.  This morning in church a friend sang the song "Not Guilty."  That song pierced my heart like you wouldn't believe!!  It was just what God wanted me to hear.  It reminded me of WHY I should spend time with Him, what He has done for me, and the kindness, mercy, and PATIENCE He has shown me.  If you haven't heard this song, listen to it. 



I sat there in the pew crying.  That song is so powerful.  I needed to be reminded of those lyrics.  I couldn't wait to spend time privately worshipping and praying to God.  I'm so thankful to God for putting it on Melody's heart to sing that this morning.  It was amazing.  PRAISE GOD!  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!!!