back to the mornings.

minneapolis. 7.2008

So it's been about two weeks that I've been getting up early. The last few days I've found that I've been just waking up at seven am without an alarm...don't get me wrong I usually turn over and wait for my alarm at 7:15, but my body is definitely used to the early rising.
I've also been slowly realizing that I need to extend my early mornings to the weekends. Last weekend I slept in Friday( Justin has Fridays off) and Saturday. Not good. My attitude was definitely affected because of this.
Saturday, I got a great letter from my cousin along with a copy of some excepts from The Discipline of Grace, written by Jerry Bridges. I loved this;

" So what should we do when we've had a "bad" day spiritually, when it seems we've done everything wrong and are feeling very guilty? We MUST go back to the cross and see Jesus there bearing our sins on His own body. We MUST by faith appropriate for ourselves the blood of Christ that will cleanse our guilty conscience... on a good our bad day, we should pray,' God be merciful to me, a sinner'...Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

One thing I've been really enjoying and learning is just to praise God more. I've never really been that good at praying. God has been teaching me to reach out to him in prayer throughout the day, but I've also been learning to just praise him throughout the day as well. I so often just pray for current needs, looking for answers to current life events, and lately I've been sitting back and just offering up thanksgiving and excitement that I have Christ as my King and Savior. The grace that he has shown to me!
I've never really considered myself a super-selfish person. Sure, I know I can be selfish, but I wasn't SUPER-selfish like other people. But, I am. Slowly I'm realizing that even though my selfishness isn't necessarily always really obvious, I'm still incredibly selfish.
God is revealing my DAILY need for his grace and mercy, that my heart needs renewing each day and that everyday I need to praise Jesus, go back to the cross and ask Christ to take hold of my heart each day, reminding me of my need for him, how I need to learn and grow, and live for him each day.