Where I am

This morning I cried out to God. I want to experience His presence and power, and right now, things are feeling kind of dry. It's not for a lack of prayer time. I still maintain that discipline every morning, but - right now - it feels like just that: a discipline rather than a relationship. In fact, I realized a few days ago that I sense God's presence the most during those times before youth group meetings, board meetings, or other meetings when I take the time to go early to worship and pray. Those moments when I can worship freely, w/o fear of offending others, waking them up, or making them uncomfortable because of the volume, freedom, or style are the times when I am most relaxed and able to truly focus on God, hearing His voice, and praying from my heart.

I was listening to Pastor Doug's sermon on "The Spirit Empowered Church Pt. 3" this morning while riding my exercise bike. Doug gave a great reminder. I don't remember the exact quote, but the point was that we need to do whatever it takes to not only guard our heart, but have times of refreshing from and with the Lord. Those times are simply too rare for Shari and I. Honestly, they don't happen on Sunday mornings, so we need to find it elsewhere, and more often than once a quarter or less. What's true is that if we find those times, we'll have our cups full to pour out to others. Right now my cup is pretty empty, even with daily times with God. I need to find some place and time to be refreshed. Where isn't tough, but when might be a bit difficult.

Please pray that Shari and I would be able to find those places and times, both together and separately.