Dear Lord; Good morning Father, and happy Wednesday. Well, first off I want to thank You for limiting the snowfall in our neck of the woods. What potentially could have been a huge mess ended up being limited to a 3 – 4” coating that simply covered everything with a pretty white blanket. The kids still got a day off of school but everything else seems to be moving along as normal, for which I’m very much appreciative.
Today Father, I’d like to discuss one of my biggest challenges if I may. I Lord, am a “fixer”; my nature is to try to fix things no matter what. While in many cases that can be a positive character trait, in some situations it ends up causing more trouble than helping. This morning was a case in point for the latter.
Shannon had a very rough night and didn’t sleep well due to some pain in her legs, and woke a little on the edgy side. I tried talking with her about it and after several pointed questions to see what I could do to help, it became apparent that all I was doing was aggravating her further. I completely misread the situation and in my efforts to “solve a problem” I missed the point and handled it poorly. Thinking about it on my ride to work this morning, I realized that this part of my nature needs to be more carefully tempered going forward. For that to happen, when my urge to “jump in” strikes I need to remember a couple truths :
I’m not in control. I can’t fix everything.
While I actually do know this Father, my brain sometimes ignores these seemingly simple facts when I see something I feel that I can help with. I need to know when to simply sit and listen, and when to realize that things are outside my scope and to leave them in Your Loving Care.
Heavenly Father, please steer and temper my yearning spirit. Help me make good choices as to how I can best serve Your Will, and to be the best Child of God that I can. Where I can be of help, may Your Presence be my Guide to a positive end. However when my involvement is not warranted, please help me recognize my limitations and lift those situations to Your Care. In You, all things are possible Lord. Amen.
Dear Lord; Good morning Father! Today Lord, I’d like to start out with an apology and to pray for your forgiveness. Yesterday, things were a little crazy at the office and I ended up having to put aside my plans to run out on to a client site over an hour away to deal with an unreasonable customer. The problem took all of five minutes to remedy on-site, and was absolutely something that could have been handled over the phone had we been allowed to. And while I didn’t show my anger to the client, I certainly blew my top when I got back to the car. Father, I said and thought some truly terrible things about that person that in retrospect I realize was sinful behavior on my part. Please forgive my stress-induced outburst of malice, and help me retain my composure in the future.
Now, on to some positive thoughts for the day Lord. As You know, I’ve been listening to a lot of Contemporary Christian music over the last couple of weeks, and it’s been a wonderfully uplifting change to my days. One song however, really hit a chord with me and I’ve had the lyrics running through my head quite a bit. The song is called “Lead Me” and is sung by the group Sanctus Real.
As a father, it resonates with me at a very fundamental level. The lyrics describe some of my deepest wishes and prayers beautifully. The closing verses to the song are :
“So Father, give me the strength
To be everything I am called to be
Oh, Father, show me the way
To lead them
Won’t You lead me?
To lead them with strong hands
To stand up when they can’t
Don’t want to leave them hungry for love
Chasing dreams that I could give up
I’ll show them I’m willing to fight
And give them the best of my life
So we can call this our home
Lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone
Father, lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone”
This is my prayer every day Lord. Please lead me to be the best husband, father and servant of Your Will that I can be, ’cause I can’t do this alone. Amen.
Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father! Well Lord, I just want to thank You for another lovely weekend. Date night with my lovely wife on Friday was a blast, Saturday we began to reclaim our home from the Christmas decorations, and Sunday was a wonderful lazy day watching the epic 1956 film “The Ten Commandments” with my family. The house is still in quite a bit of chaos, but all in all it was a wonderful, productive time and I thank You so much for it.
I also want to take a minute to thank You for sending Your healing power to me over the last week. As You know I ended up at my doctor’s office last Wednesday with serious stomach distress. I was in a fair amount of pain Lord, and while I still have some discomfort it’s worlds better than it was. Thank You so much for Blessing me with an excellent Primary Care Physician, and for Your Comfort during this episode. It’s woken me up to some necessary changes I need to make in my diet, stress level and sleep habits if I want to avoid potentially serious medical issues in the future. Please help me keep proper focus and have the strength to make the right choices going forward.
And finally Lord, I’ve been hearing quite a bit this month about the idea of having One Word to focus and pray on for the new year, instead of a series of resolutions which usually don’t get followed through on. The more I’ve thought about the idea, and seen some examples on other devotional blogs the more I like it. Therefore Father, today I’m starting my prayers for You to help me choose the word that will guide me for the coming year. I place my heart and mind in Your Hands Lord, and look forward to Your Counsel on my focus.
Heavenly Father, please bring Your Loving Presence to all those in need. Help us be productive, focused and compassionate servants of Your Will, and guide us to where we can best be used for Your Grand Purpose. Give Your Comfort and Strength to those who are suffering, and help us all be extensions of Your Love on Earth. Amen.
Dear Lord; Wow Father… What a powerful morning You’ve presented me with. I’m still not 100% sure what to make of it, but it’s got me excited nonetheless.
Now, I’ve never been a big nighttime “dreamer”. In fact, I’m a chronic insomniac so when I do finally crash I very seldom remember what runs through my head the next morning. Last night however, was a completely different experience for me. Everything was so vivid, so real… When the alarm clock went off (and just FYI, I now realize that alarm clocks are one of Satan’s creations…LOL) I was truly shocked to find out that I had been asleep. However, although I woke a bit disoriented I had an amazing sense of peace and of hope in my heart that hadn’t been there when I went to bed. It was a wonderful feeling, but at the same time very confusing. A little later, I was trying to make sense of it all while showering and You whispered to my heart :
“Expect something wonderful”
I’ve never put much stock in my dreams Father, but I’ve absolutely learned to be open to Your Voice. This was such a powerful and unexpected experience for me, that I’m still having a hard time putting it into perspective. Either way, no matter what the “something wonderful” turns out to be, I can’t thank You enough for the joyous feeling You left me with this morning.
On a different note Lord, I just had to share another piece of happiness with You. Last night, Aidan and I finished reading the Book of Genesis in his new Action Bible. He was beaming from the accomplishment, and went to bed with a smile on his face. We also found and bought the DVD of the movie “The Ten Commandments” recently, and are planning to watch it this weekend so it’s a wonderful lead-in to reading the Book of Exodus. Jonathan’s been reading Genesis as well, and I expect he’ll have it done in the next day or so as well. Can You tell I’m proud of them Lord? 🙂
And we’re once again coming into a weekend Father. Shannon and I are getting out for “date night” tonight, with the balance of the weekend being spent getting the Christmas decorations put away and putting our house back to some semblance of normality. I’ll admit, I’m going to be sorry to see all the wonderful lights and embellishments get put away for another year, but it’s time.
Heavenly Father, I thank You so much for coming to me this morning. The more I feel Your Presence with me, the more I know peace in my heart and go through the day focused on what truly matters. Please guide me to better be Your Servant, and to shine Your Light to those around me so that they may know Your Love as I’ve come to. Amen.
Dear Lord; Happy Thursday Father! I know I tend to talk about my boys quite a bit, but following up on yesterday’s conversation I just wanted to tell you about the ride in to school this morning.
Following a posting from another blogger about listening to Christian Music (Thanks so much Jenifer!) early in the week, I did a little digging online and found that while there were no nearby stations that carry that genre, there was a local repeater transmitter that rebroadcast an appropriate station. It’s a weak signal to be sure, but it covers the area between my home and my office reasonably well, so I started listening to it on my way home last night. It was still on in the car this morning on the way to drop the kids at school, and the difference was quickly picked up on by my youngest, Aidan. I explained to him that this was a station that played songs which praised God, and he seemed pleased with that. We then spent some time discussing what they had read in their Action Bibles the night before, but other than that it was an unusually quiet ride. I pulled into the school and stopped to drop them off, and on his way out the door Aidan piped up “I like the music!” and ran inside to his class.
It’s funny sometimes what makes me smile Lord.
“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” – Psalm 100:1-2
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day.
Hi, I’m Phil Malmstrom, a.k.a. Phather Phil. I’m self-employed, father of two wonderful young men, an ordained minister who delights in spreading Jesus’ Message of Hope and Love, a science-fiction junkie, an aspiring photographer and above all that one of God’s Children who rejoices in His Blessings each day. 
