Good Morning!

This morning, I started my day like any other day...

Alarm woke me. WJTL giving me news updates, playing music (I swear they are lullabies in the morning...coaxing me back to sleep).
Into the shower.
A quick pause to spend a moment in my new devotional book (...Thank you again, Stan & Rochelle, for the Christmas gift).
Teeth brushed, contact lenses added to make life clearer, and so on.

But, I'm gonna jump back to "Step 3" of my normal morning routine:  "A quick pause to spend a moment in my new devotional book."  I'm jumping back to this because today's message STRUCK me.  I felt like it was a direct connection to my blog post yesterday...about simplifying...about slowing down.  Isn't it amazing when life has a way of connecting itself to other days, other moments, other things.  I call it a "God thing."  

Here's what today's devotional said...
"Refresh yourself in the Peace of My Presence.  This peace can be your portion at all times and in all circumstances.  Learn to hide in the secret of My Presence, even as you carry out your duties in the world.  I am both with you and within you.  I go before you to open up the way, and I also walk alongside you.  There could never be another companion as devoted as I am.  Because I am your constant Companion, there should be a lightness to your step that is observable to others.  Do not be weighed down with problems and unresolved issues, for I am your burden-bearer.  In the world you have trials and distress, but don't let them get you down.  I have conquered the world and deprived it of power to harm you.  In Me you may have confident Peace."  (Psalm 31: 19-20; John 16:33)
Taken from:  Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

PEACE jumped out at me.  In an attempt to simplify and slow down in 2013, I need peace.  I will continue to need peace.  As long as I am on earth, I will not be completely fulfilled...satisfied...at peace.  Human nature is a wild thing.  Thank goodness for Jesus and the redemption and peace we can find in Him.  

DO NOT BE WEIGHED DOWN jumped out at me.  Doesn't life...work, school, raising children, waiting on things, family dynamics...have a way of weighing us down?  Of feeling heavy?  Too heavy to carry sometimes.  

Today, I'm thanking God for this devotional.  If you're looking for a small, easy-to-read devotional...one to maybe start your day off on a more positive note..."Jesus Calling" is an excellent one.  I love that Scripture is printed at the end of each day's devotional, too...a way to dig deeper into the Bible...a way to see how the devotional connections directly to God's word.  

Thank you, Sarah Young, for sharing your gift of writing with the world through this devotional.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me...each morning!  Thank you for challenging me and for reminding me that I am loved by a God who is so vast, so creative, so personal, so empathetic.  

May you find a devotional that enables you to start your day...knowing you are loved, too!

(Right now, "Jesus Calling" can be purchased on Amazon.com for only $8.99.)