There are times in life that God just messes with my routine. Probably because I like routine & I am especially a creature of habit. So I truly do think that He finds it funny to see what happens to this woman when He disturbs my routines, switches things up on me & causes me to desire, no long for something more. Different. And that is exactly where I found myself these summer days.

I was longing for something more. Or maybe it was just more of Someone. The only Someone that could give me something more.

Enter – The Hello Mornings Challenge.

I began seeing it appear in my twitter. Having never heard of it, I decided to dig a bit to see what it was about. And the “itch” began. I decided to rise to the challenge.

I have been an early riser for years. I have a devotional time most mornings. But this is a little different. It is knowing that just as I am up, there are others women, friends, also rising early & reading the same portion of Scripture as I am. For this season, the group is studying Ephesians.

The question was posed….

What did you learn this week?

I learned that I LOVE Paul!

Here is a man who has a past, a reputation & he does not care that he does. Not one bit. What is in his past does not matter to him any longer as he knows who he is in the present.

Here is a man who speaks out fearlessly, unconcerned about what people will think. Knowing who he is in Christ has given him a confidence to speak for Christ.

Here is a man who prayed bold prayers for others because others mattered to him. He wanted others to experience & know his Jesus. He wanted others to know that as a believer their life is made complete when it is filled with all the fullness of life and power by the presence of Jesus within them.

And so this morning I found myself praying this for my family – for my husband, Dan; for my daughter, Lisa & her husband, Peter; for my son, Tim & his wife, Krisy; for my two precious granddaughters, Sophia & Jocelyn:

I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in our hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. THEN you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

(Ephesians 3:14-19 NLT)

I am so grateful that “Paul continually comes back to the bottom line that this life is all about the Lord God. His gift. His calling. His pursuit. His healing. His salvation. His redemption. His plan. His will. His grace. And in God’s grace He blesses His children abundantly.” (Glorious Grace, page 3).

And that is what I am holding onto. I am holding onto His glorious grace & trusting that He truly does have a plan. For me. For us.

And it will be good!

So to the community of newly found early risers, I am most grateful to be on this journey. I look forward to next week!

Love,

Joanne

I linked this post with Hello Mornings .

(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/dan)