A Wondrous Gift

Dear Lord; Happy Friday Father!  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!  What a powerful release Lord!  I truly feel like the floodgates on my heart have opened, and it’s an amazing sensation.  I can’t thank You enough for this, and I lift my Praises to You for this wonderful gift.

As there are others that read these conversations Father, let me explain.

The last couple of months have been filled with significant trials for me, my business and my family and although I’ve tried to maintain a positive outlook and listen for Your Voice, I’ve been very much eaten up with fear, worry and self-doubt.  These deep-seated demons have affected me severely enough that my health has suffered, and I’ve not been able to focus as closely as I should on ministering to those who count on me.  I didn’t lose Faith Lord, but I certainly felt beaten… until this morning.

I had just dropped off my boys to school, and was headed towards my office thinking about what new nightmares the day had in store for me, when You intervened.  In the middle of a thought, out of nowhere, I started crying uncontrollably.  The only way I can explain it is that my heart felt like a plug had just been pulled and all the pain, fears and worries burst from my chest.  It was a truly staggering feeling, and I’m still tearing up thinking about it.  You are indeed a Wondrous God!

I Accept Your Love, and Your Help, and Your Gift!

I lay my Burdens at Your Feet Lord!

Heavenly Father, I can’t thank You enough for this release and for staying close to me through my trials.  I know I am Blessed, and Loved and I feel Your Peace.  May all those in similar turmoil receive Your Presence as I was Graced to this morning.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Tomorrow will worry about itself.

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  I want to start today by thanking You for being such a good listener.  I feel like I’ve been talking Your Ears off the last day or so, and while my heart is still troubled by earthly worries, laying them out to You does worlds of good for my sense of Hope.  I keep hearing You telling me to let go and find rest in Your Love, and I’m trying to Lord… but these fears have a true grip on me at the moment.

Searching for focus in You today, I found some comfort in verses from the Book of Matthew :

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” – Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)

Verse 27 really grabbed me Father.  “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Wow… I guess I need to take a step back and Accept that.  (Ok… There’s that word again.  I get it.) Then a little further on in the chapter, Verse 34 says :

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Such a simple truth, and yet I somehow haven’t been able to see it through my inner clouding.  I have my focus now Father.

Thank You for leading me to Matthew today Lord, and for staying by my side through these trials.  Only in Your Loving Hands can my heavy heart be whole.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Grant me the Serenity…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father!  First off, I want to send out a quick prayer of support for my wife Shannon.  She’s been dealing with a very difficult professional situation as of late that’s had her mind wrestling with her heart, and it’s taken a toll on her.  She’s an amazing lady Lord, with a giving and caring spirit that seems to know no end, but in some cases those wonderful qualities can make necessary decisions much more difficult.  Please send her Your Strength and Guidance to make the right decisions, and comfort her with the knowledge You’re with her.  Thank You.

Yesterday, I read a posting on one of my favorite Christian Blog Sites (Mothers On Mission) that brought to mind one of my favorite prayers.  It’s referred to as the Serenity Prayer and is attributed to a gentleman named Reinhold Niebuhr :

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

There’s that word Accept again!  You know Father, since You placed that focus in my heart it seems to just pop up all around me.  As You’re well aware, the plea “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…” is something I pray for on a regular basis.  The more my life seems to veer away from my control, the more I realize that much of what I struggle with never was mine to direct in the first place.

I’m getting there Lord… Thank You for bearing with me.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Well Lord, I didn’t exactly start the day on a stellar note.  As You well know, Shannon and I very seldom have any significant arguments.  We’re very much on-keel with each other, and any little disagreements we do have now and again are usually quickly and calmly worked out.

That wasn’t the case today however.

A simple misreading of a reaction to something I said led to tempers flaring on both sides, and a twenty minute excited exchange… Over basically nothing.

Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. – 2 Timothy 2:23-24

Ouch!  Yep, that pretty much describes our fight… foolish and stupid.  I stand convicted Lord, and am deeply ashamed.  Instead of listening for Your Guidance in that moment, I allowed my temper to shut myself off from You and caused unnecessary pain to someone I love deeply.

Heavenly Father, please help me focus my heart and mind on Your Voice in times of stress.  Help me not be quick to anger, and instead bring a level head and calm influence to situations that arise.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. – James 1:19-20

Amen.

~Phather Phil

Focus on Acceptance…

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!  First off, I want to thank You for another lovely weekend with my family and friends.  Date night with my wonderful wife Shannon on Saturday night was a great way to end the week, and although I ended up “under the weather” on Sunday, I was Blessed in that my family made sure I had the quiet time I needed to rest and recuperate.  I certainly wasn’t as productive as I had originally planned on being, but the downtime did help us all to recharge our batteries for the week ahead.

Today Lord, I want to delve further into my Focus Word (Accept) for the year and how it’s already affected my thoughts and actions.  It’s amazing to me, but since You placed that word in my heart I find it jumping into my head quite regularly.  For example, I had a situation this weekend where I was extremely uncomfortable with the way someone was acting in a public situation.  They weren’t doing anything wrong per-se, but it made me feel awkward all the same.

“You need to Accept them for who they are” I heard in the back of my head.

Fair enough.  As I said, they weren’t doing anything wrong and they certainly weren’t hurting me in any way.  I realized I had just taken it upon myself to feel uncomfortable at the way they were behaving, and was letting it affect my disposition.

Therefore, today’s statement of focus from my experience this weekend is :

I need to Accept that God has made each of us an individual who is unique and special.

Now please understand Father, this doesn’t mean I won’t stand up against people doing something morally or ethically wrong, or not confront evil wherever I see it.  I simply need to have more flexibility when dealing with differences in how Your Children act and interact with others.  You’ve made us all wonderfully individual and unique, and I’m going to work on celebrating those differences more.  Amen.

~Phather Phil