Today is the first day of Lent. I will be focusing the next forty days on my journey toward Easter. I don’t celebrate Lent as part of any organized religious group as many do. I like the idea of taking the forty days preceding Easter to focus on the sacrifice that Christ gave for me. I choose to observe these forty days as a personal season of sacrifice and nearness to Christ.
I have memories of different seasons of Lent that my momma and my niece and I have celebrated together. The one that always puts a big grin on my face, and is probably the first one that comes to my mind, was the year that my momma gave up little Debbie Cakes as her sacrifice. She was completely addicted to them. They were her favorite food, snack, dessert and sometimes even meal! But she gave them up for those forty days. At the end of the forty days, she never again had the same desire for them as she did before.
My season of Lent this year will be focused more on the sacrifice of time. I have previously mentioned the difficulty of getting my sleep patterns back to normal. My lack of sleep has made me feel tired and fatigued. I was in the “listening mode” of sleep for so long that I have found it difficult to get back into a healthy sleep routine.
For these next forty days, I want to begin my mornings early — no later than 6 AM — and give those first, foundational moments to the Lord in worship. I have learned there are things I will not always do for myself, but I will do for Him. My prayer is that as I honor Him with the sacrifice of these early hours, He will gently restore what has been worn down — steady my sleep, strengthen my body, and return me to a healthy rhythm of rest.
“28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might. 30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; 31 but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31 — World English Bible)
The One who does not sleep is teaching me how to rest.
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What is your relationship to the all-knowing God of the universe? Do you know the peace that can come only from an intimate relationship with Jesus? You can know Him. Jesus Christ—God’s Son, born into human flesh, sinless, crucified and giving His life freely, buried, arisen on the third day—will come into your life and change the outcome of your eternity. You just have to be willing to believe and accept His truth. In addition, here is an excellent page that can give you additional information on peace with God: PeaceWithGod.net.
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Restricted Vision, Unburdened Sight 