Hello Monday.

Monday's dont get much credit as a day in the week all because of the position of the day in the week it falls on and probably nothing else. Its the same 24 hours that every other day has and includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and tv shows in the evening. I think most people dread the Mondays in their life is because they havent finished what they wanted to do in the previous 2 days being the weekend. Most people have off on the weekends and when we are living hard, having fun and enjoying our time, usually away from work, Monday comes too early.
I admit that sometimes those Mondays I am there with you as well. But some Mondays are actually really good. Some Mondays are just and extension of my Sundays. When I have a really good weekend and one that included an amazing worship experience at church or God is really showing or teaching me something - I am excited for Mondays and the rest of the week because it give me an opportunity to practice and live out what I am learning. This Monday is one of those days :) I hope it is for you as well.

Today while reading my Bible through the YouVersion Bible reading plan to read the Bible in a year, I opened to Deuteronomy 1. Here is where Moses gets to preach to Israel on the plains of Moab. Gosh his words later in the chapter really hit home for me. Moses speaks to the people about their journey from Egypt and out of slavery and possessing the "Promised Land" but never quite making it for so many reasons as Moses shares in his sermon. He speaks of the 12 men he sent out to check the land and to report back and it was reported as a good land that God, our God was giving us. But they rebelled and were not willing to go. Complaining took place in the tents and words that included God hated his people and how God took them out of Egypt only to die here in the wilderness. Moses shares with the people how he begged them to take the land God had promised them and how God would fight for them and reminded them of what God did for them to get them out of Egypt. Moses shared that an entire generation would have to die off before they would be allowed now to enter the land of "Milk and Honey". Because of their disbelief and disobedience, Moses shares with the people that he was not getting in either. Joshua would lead them and all the current babies who right now dont know right from wrong will get in also. So God told the people to go back to where they came from - back to the Red Sea. They then refused and said we have sinned against God and then wanted to go and fight following the original orders that God had given them earlier. They took their weapons and dressed for battle thinking with God, it would be easy. Moses them reminded them -

Deuteronomy 1:42 - But God told me, "Tell them, Dont do it; dong got up to fight - Im not with you in this. Your enemies will waste you."

How many times in our own lives have we wanted something so badly that even with every warning sign from - friends advise, parents telling us, God directing us, that its a huge mistake but we go and do it anyways? We only then find out later, that it wasnt worth the battle or it was a complete failure from the start. I can remember in my younger days being at one of my first time jobs out of college and the money I was making was ok for right out of college but the commute was long. Tolls on the road and hours spent each day in travel and gas ... you know when you want to change something we often list out ALL the excuses to make the change. So being nearsided and blinded to the fact I wanted a closer to home job, more money etc... I interviewed at a new startup company that was adding a new location and got the job. I gave notice and happily went to my new job reporting to work that next Monday. Upon getting to my new job, the traffic was horrible on this side of town. No tolls and a shorter commute miles wise - didnt make any difference if it was taking me longer to get to work and 1 day a week I learned after starting I had to go to PA to work at the main location. That first 2 weeks was miserable. Slow with very few customers, nobody there able to train me so I had no idea what I was doing. The advice from my dad seemed so loud in my ears now. I knew I had made a mistake by taking this job. I called my old boss and told him the situation. He hired me back and for more money to get me back. I can remember what a relief it was to go back to my old job which I worked out for a few more years before my job at Princeton. I just wished I would have listened to what people were telling me. Wise counsel in making big decisions are always a good idea.

Here the people didnt want to move forward in what God was telling them to do. Even with Him already proving that He was with them. They refused to move into the promised land and only then did they have to wait years before a generation of people died before they could move forward.

I often wonder where my life would be today if I had listened to God more often and did what he instructed me to do. I think about the foolish decisions along the way, especially in my younger years that folks where telling me to stop, dont do that, you need to drop this out of your life but I did anyways. I am thankful I am a little more focused now than long ago on listening to Gods word. Moving when he prompts me. Begging him daily to use me. Constantly leaning into Gods word for not only teaching the young people in my life but showing them by example as well.

What would it look like if we made decisions in life and knew that Gods will was on it? What if we pressed in with our entire hearts to do what God has willed us to do because he was in it? What could we accomplish then with God fully behind us? A different boyfriend or girlfriend? A different spouse? A different job? A different church to attend or lead at? A business that you might have opened if you had the courage to do so? Attend a different university leading to a totally different career path?

I am very blessed to be surrounded today by people of faith. People who have answered Gods call over their life to start a church as my Pastor at church has. My long time life Pastor and friend Travis Bush, who got the call to lead a church in Maine and quit his job, sold his house and moved his family to Maine. My friend Eric who needed a change in his life and felt God calling him to Maine - moved to a new land where the only land he knew was here. I have seen people give their money to support not only myself to a mission trip but also give beyond reason to our vision at church.
People ask what is their will for their life? I get this a lot from teenagers and I can honestly say, that through prayer, through seeking Gods purpose and his heart - your purpose and will for your life is aligning your heart with Gods heart. Seek his heart in your life and you will find your calling. You will be able to take the "land" that he has already marked and set out for you. You will be able to go so much further with God leading you because your heart and his heart are on the same page, same vision, same urgency and same passion.

Praying today that many will come to seek Gods heart for their lives both young and old, like me. I for sure would much rather be in a place where God is looking down on me and sharing a smile than anything else. As I have wrote in the past, At the end of the day, I want to hear that my heart looks like your heart Lord.
Be blessed,
Lonnie~