Practicing His Presence

God has been convicting me the past couple days that I need to really spend time with Him and really focus on Him rather then the distractions around me...and that often includes this blog, the TW forum, even the TW and TA books! I so often forget and am not mindful that He is right here with me every single moment of every single day.

The following excerpt from “The Power of a Positive Wife” by Karol Ladd stood out to me as I was reading yesterday:
“Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.” John 15:4
When we remain, dwell, and abide in Christ, we experience the daily joy of a vibrant, powerful, life-giving relationship with him... Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth century monk who worked in the kitchen at the Discalced Carmelite Order in Paris, is someone who abided in Christ—he called it ‘practicing God’s presence’—every moment of every day… What does it mean to ‘practice God’s presence’ all day long? It means continually turning our hearts and minds toward God and his truth. Whether the circumstances of our days are mundane and unpleasant or joyful and glorious, we choose to turn our eyes heavenward. Challenges and struggles take on a different air when we see them in light of eternity. (The Power of a Positive Wife pg 28)

“In spite of our own thirsting souls, we typically don’t cling to the Lord moment by moment of every day.” TW pg 34 (ch.4)

The Positive Wife book encouraged an application exercise at the end of the chapter to take a day to “practice His presence” and possibly take some time to fast. I was thinking I would do this on Tuesday, as I knew that day wasn’t packed full of activities, but then as I was getting ready for the day I thought “Why can’t I ‘practice His presence’ today? Why wait?” My original goal was to fast from food and the computer for the day and spend more time in prayer and the Bible.

What an awesome morning it was! First of all, I have to tell you that actually being more mindful that God is RIGHT HERE WITH ME EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY is pretty mind-boggling…and also CONVICTING! I started off being a little snippety with my husband as I headed off to the store bright and early at 8am. I felt instant conviction and repented to God and also to my husband! A similar interaction with my husband happened once more later in the morning and I felt the same conviction and had the same response. As I drove to the store and shopped I was in constant prayer. I was hungry at 8:30am but every time the waves of hunger would flood over me my mind and prayers were directed straight to God.

I wish I could say the rest of the day went as I had envisioned… However at noon I was pretty ravenous and was quite low on energy and opted to have some lunch and did do a quick check of email. But then later in the afternoon I had a good quiet time with the Lord. Oftentimes I read my books but neglect really digging in His word and letting Him do the leading... Well, today I decided to jump back into reading the gospels and it was a great start. I am humbled and in awe (and also totally excited!) after spending some good quality time with the Lord.

I hope to continue “practicing His presence” more every day, whether I’m fasting or not. I hope to spend more time reading His word and just in constant communion with Him.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor... O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Psalm 8:3-5, 9

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.” Psalm 34:15