Day 26: Do Your Best And Leave The Rest

I'm sorry that I haven't written in so long...it was easy to write here during the summer, when I didn't have much else to do, but now that school is upon me once again, it's easier to skip my blogging (and often my Scripture reading, as well). Perhaps I can't blog here EVERY day, but I certainly can read my Bible every day. And the blog does help keep me accountable to myself.

Anyway, no more catching up. No more streak maintaining. I'll just write about whatever I read about, or more importantly, whatever is on my heart. Some things work best when they aren't guided by strict rules.

Today's devotion talked about times when we can't give God everything that we usually do. At Vassar, I suppose this could be said of me. There are occasions where life gets so frantic and busy that we can't put in a half-hour of prayer every morning or such things. Don't get me wrong--we all need to keep our priorities in check, so we can't kid ourselves--but God wants us to be good stewards of our lives, and if there are important responsibilities that we need to attend to, then we best serve the Lord if we fulfill those responsibilities to the best of our ability. But we must be honest with God, and we must try to give Him whatever we can. God is faithful, and if we are true to Him, He will bless it.

The problem with my life is that I've had time for God, but I haven't used it for Him. From experience, I can say that the less time we spend with God, the easier it is to fall into temptation or live outside of God's will. I can't explain how reading the Bible in the morning sets the tone for the day, but it does. I suppose it's because God realizes that we are using our time to draw closer to Him, and thus He blesses the rest of the time that He's given us that we use for other things. As I type, I already feel better about today and more relaxed. And that's saying something, because I'm taking my GRE at 1:30 today (pray for me, please!). My friends prayed for me about it last night, and they touched me deeply. I've got the best companions in the world, and I hate that I've only got one more year of living with them. But anyway, there really isn't an excuse for me not to spend time with God, so I'm going to get back on track again. :-)

Day 25: Don't Rust Out

Well, so much for catching up...I guess I'll do two a day until I'm back on track.

Friday's devotion talked about working for God continuously. "Oswald Chambers said: 'The intellect works with the greatest intensity when it works continuously; the more you do, the more you can do. We must work hard to keep in trim for God. Clean off the rust and keep bright by use.'" Yesterday's bagel brunch is an example of a way I was able to do work for God. Normally, I get uncomfortable around people I don't know, but God gave me courage to introduce myself and talk with several people. It was certainly relieving. The bottom line is that we cannot take our salvation for granted and just keep living our lives as if Jesus never died for us. We need to work at advancing His kingdom at all times, whether through witnessing or prayer or reading His word or whatever.

Friday's Scripture was Isaiah 4-6. In chapter 6 we see Isaiah's commission and his answer to the Lord when God inquires who He shall send. Isaiah's reply is "Here am I. Send me!" I wish I could just as readily reply to the call of the Lord as Isaiah did. So often I am frightened of what others may think of me or of stepping out of my comfort zone that I shrink away when I see a need. I must learn to be like Isaiah and step up when the Lord calls for someone to do His work.