early morning meditations

"The sky was made at the Lord's command.  By breath from his mouth, he made all the stars."

Psalm 33:6

 

These last few weeks have been rather different for us at the Eenigenburg house.  Ben's car has been unreliable, therefore we've been sharing the one Honda for every activity life demands of us.  It looks something like this:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday...

5:30A we both wake up

5:45A I drive him to work & drop off by 6:00

6:20A I arrive back home & try to fall back to sleep before class

9:00A I wake back up, get ready for school, leave by 10:00

12:00P I leave school to go home/ my dad's & kill time before I pick Ben up between 2-3:00

3:00ishP Ben & I have about 1.5 precious hours to spend with each other before I leave for work at 4:45

5:45P I work until 9

9:30ishP I get home, maybe eat dinner, relax for a bit.... go to sleep to start day all over again

 

But Tuesdays & Thursdays have become my blessing days...

(Repeat 5:30A-6:20A ritual, then pause)

6:30A I make breakfast, put a pot of coffee on, grab my Bible, my journal, the laptop, a trusty black pen, and my Village Church Women's Bible Study Guide.  For the next few hours I get to read, study, meditate, and begin my day growing in knowledge and understanding about my God.  My creator.

 

The study is over Genesis, and for the last three weeks I've been meditating and studying Genesis 1:1

 

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

 

Seemingly not much to study, until you break each word down within the sentence.  Then you begin to open up a new world of spiritual depths that have been hidden so delicately within the simple phrase of the first sentence of the Holy Bible, God's true word.  God created the heavens and the earth.  God.  Only God.  No other thing (creation, chasm, theory) can rightfully take credit for the world/universe we know today.  God created the heavens and the earth.  He created everything.  Everything.  Everything we know today; everything we use, see, touch, smell; every person, every animal.  Everything, God created.  He created it in the beginning.  Before the beginning, He was there.  He will be there when all is destroyed.  He is timeless.  He is brilliant.  He is powerful.  He spoke, and it was.  He wanted, and it was.  Everything works today because of Him.  All is His, we are just meager borrowers of His creation.

 

When you begin your day with this humbling meditation, with the understanding that this is just borrowed time, there's no way your day can be bad.

 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies announce what his hands have made.  Day after day they tell the story; night after night they tell it again.  They have no speech or words; they have no voice to be heard.  But their message goes out through all the world..."

Psalm 19:1-4

The Power of a Praying Wife, Part 1

I heard so much about this book by Stormie Omartian in the days leading up to our wedding, and then in the days surrounding all the other weddings/bridal parties I attended this year. Each time I would make a mental note to pick this book up, since all the telling sources only raved about how this book saved their marriage, etc., however I only recently purchased and began reading it. Two chapters in, it has transformed my self-serving mind and heart to one that is soft and receptive to my loving husband's.

It's amazing how much I thought only of myself when it came time to pray for our new life together.

Dear God,

Please change Ben to what I want.... Please make him see/do what I want him to see/do.... Please convict him the way I feel he should be convicted....

And do all these things in my time,

Amen!

Maybe that example isn't a true-to-life example of my prior prayer life, but I bet it sounds extremely familiar to God. I was very self-centered, I only wanted God to change Ben, never once thinking it was me who needed the changing. (Chapter One.... first thing to hit home... and it was not easy!) I have learned how my unspoken words will move Ben further than any of my spoken (nagging) words ever will. I have learned that my unattainable expectations for him will be the first thing to bring us down, all because I have a fantasy idea of marriage that we will never be able to live up to. I was reminded that the Bible commands the man to love his wife, and the wife to respect her husband... and oh, how easy it is to lose her respect for her husband when all she dwells on are his negative characteristics. With loss of respect quickly follows loss of love; without that there is no more marriage.

I still struggle, of course, with my selfish prayers, thoughts, hopes, and wishes... however, so far I have learned to check myself more quickly when doing so. I have also gotten into the habit of just shutting up when my mind is screaming degrading responses, nagging comments, digging remarks. I have also grown just a little closer to my Lord, because I am becoming fully dependent on Him to fulfill our marriage, to answer my prayers, and to listen to my complaints. All the above I once looked to Ben to succeed at beforehand, thus causing angry temper tantrums and hurtful word-battles. Now I'm going to the creator, and it's way more beautiful an outcome.

More to come with future daily readings and insights....