Time Out and God in control !

No matter how you fight against God, He always has control.

He waits patiently as we resist Him and loves us all the more. Then, when we least expect it, if we have not listened to His voice, He takes control and we are powerless.

For years I have followed the same behaviour patterns.... and the inevitable has happened. I have been taught a hard lesson that I am not in control.

I think I am listening to God and then through my actions over months, I realise afterwards that as the weeks and months rolled by - and as demands in my workplace were building, I felt that I had to satisfy everybody around me and God's plans for me were slipping further into the background. Eventually work again became totally absorbing, grabbing every spare minute in every day. Family demands increased, time spent with friends and any time for myself vanished or slipped away and above all my conversations and time with God and His word just diminished. I became more and more exhausted and there were just not enough hours in a day. The outcome was that my priorities were all out of line and I lost perspective.

It only took a burst of life changing events, all beyond my control, to bring me crashing down..... and when I say crashing down, I mean totally shutting down. The human body is interesting and when you are no longer able to look after it, your brain takes over and just shuts everything down for you to protect itself.

Through my recovery in past weeks and working with the support of family, friends and counsellor, I have come to understand that my only counsellor, is Jesus.....Amen.... and I have been reminded in (Genesis 2:2) "... God ended His work... and He rested..." and we read in the book of Matthew that often when Jesus had been with the crowds and worked His miracles as with the feeding of the five thousand, He withdrew from the crowds to be on His own, to rest and to spend time with God, our Father.

One of the most powerful lessons I am learning is that it is really essential to have...TIME OUT.... If I keep treating my job, with goals that are not God given - better than I treat myself, there is a strong possibility that I won't be around to finish it. It is key to recognise when there is just too much going on, and we are at a point that we are being told that enough is enough. It is also key to not ever feel guilty about then taking a break or having that TIME OUT in order to regain perspective and to begin to control what is happening in our lives. One of God's great messages is found in my favourite Psalm, Psalm 23...and it reads in verse 2 - 3 :" He maketh me lie down in green pastures... He restoreth my soul..". Amen.

I have been taught that my restoration and healing has started with rest. I knew that God was showing me so many messages about going into my season of rest....and I grappled with it and didn't understand it. Now that I have been in it and am starting to come out of it, I have learnt too that it is a season I need to embrace with all the learning and positive changes that it is generating in my life. I praise God that He loves me so, so much, that He has cared enough to take me into a season of rest to refresh me and to heal my soul. Amen.

# Do you let the demands and pressures of the world suck you in and eventually drag you down?
# Does there never seem to be enough hours in a day?
# Are your friends only distant memories?
# When was the last time you did something special for yourself?

# When did you have your last quiet time with Jesus?

My freind if this is you then please hear God's nudging and spend time out with Him before it needs drastic action.

My new season now is a season of spiritual regeneration... Selah