Get Up and Go!

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Ephesians 5:14 

I was a teenager sitting in church barely able to keep my eyes open. Hardly listening to the pastor's message that Sunday, I was in a season of my life where I was actively trying to grow in my faith. But that Sunday I just wasn't feeling it, wasn't paying attention at all, then my eyes closed. 

Have you ever had one of those moments when you fall asleep in places that you know you shouldn't? Oh man, I remember the times in high school and college where I would drift off only to have my head jerk up so hard, if people around me didn't know I was asleep, they knew then by my wild reactive movements.  

Well my head jerked up and I wildly looked around to see if anyone noticed and after breathing a sigh of relief, I looked down in my lap at my opened Bible and read the following words:  "Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

It was almost like I received a shot of Espresso through an IV. I know no one around me saw me doze off that day, but  God did. I can't tell you what the sermon was about or if anything profound happened after that service, but I woke up and got to listening to the Word of God being preached for that day. 

This Summer, I have been enjoying the lazy days being at home with my boys, staying up late watching things like Shark Week and the Summer Olympics and getting to sleep in the next morning. But allowing myself to sleep in till the boys wake up, also keeps me from getting some quiet time with the Lord done in the morning. 

When I hear my children rustling around, I look over at my phone, read the latest blog devotional in my email, say a little prayer and then drift back off to sleep before I hear the voice... For about a month now, I have been feeling the Lord telling me to get up, before my kids did and spend time with Him. 

At first, I was frustrated. I thought I need that annoying voice telling me to get up to stop, because I need rest too! I justified rest is just as important to God as it is to me and he would understand. Only I knew no evil voice would be telling me to get up and spend time with God, the Holy Spirit was wanting to get me back in my quiet time, because there were things me and Him needed to hash out. 

I had been feeling dry spiritually and frustrated.  There were a lot of big decisions going on in my life and my family's that I should have been face down on the floor about, but I wasn't. In my quiet time I turn my Pandora channel on the Elevation Worship station, grab my Bible (not the one on my phone) and my journal and head to the front porch and get in the zone! In the stillness and quietness of those moments, that is when I hear God most speaking into my life. He and I both needed that. 

He needed me to wake up from my sleep, rise up from the demands of my life trying to drown out His voice and take the time to let Jesus shine in me, through me and speak to me just like it says in Ephesians 5:14.  

He needed me to get up and go spend time with Him, pray to Him and hear from Him. Let me tell you, I didn't regret it one bit! 

What is God whispering into your life that you keep brushing aside? Does your spiritual walk feel like it is falling flat and lacking depth? Perhaps because it is. Get up and go to your quiet place. Do whatever you need to do to cancel out any distraction and mute all noise and just sit in God's presence to hear what He has for you today.  

Deserts will bloom in the light of Your love
Valleys make room for the river of God

You never run dry
Never run dry
Never run dry

You're my source, never ending
You're my life, never lacking

Lyrics from "Never Run Dry" by Housefires