First of 30

The kids and I made another road trip yesterday for a birthday party. The kids had a blast at the wave pool and the party that followed. I was not feeling good at all and kind of grumpy, but I'm so glad we went!

I feel like the tallest man in the world, Mama!

Look at those beautiful eyes!

Am I not the cutest softest baby ever?

I'm still under the weather today. Just a little summer cold, I guess...
Nothing to stop me from Day 1 of the 30 day challenge. I still don't know how I'm going to "step out of the box" today, though. I'll be back later to let you know what I get to check off my list and how it went. Helen has joined me...any other takers?

As I woke up this morning and started to fumble around with the coffee maker with my eyes still glued half shut, I told God to "hold on...wait until my mind is clear...I'll talk with you in a while, k?", I was guided to my bookshelf to open and read August 23rd out of my Utmost For His Highest journal (which I read VERY sporadically) and this is what it said:

"When thou prayest, enter into they closet, and...pray to they Father which is in secret." Matthew 6:6


Jesus did not say - Dream about thy Father in secret, but pray to thy Father in secret. Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and have shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray; we cannot get our minds into working order, and the first thng that conflicts is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is the overcoming of mental wool-gathering. We have to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful prayer.


We must have a selected place for prayer and then when we get there the plague of flies begins - This must be done, and that. "Shut thy door." A secret silence means to shut the door deliberately on emotions and remember God. God is in secret, and He sees us from the secret place; He does not see us as other people see us, or as we see ourselves. When we live in the secret place it becomes impossible for us to doubt God, we become more sure of Him than of anything else. Your Father, Jesus says, is in secret and nowhere else. Enter the secret place, and right in the center of the common round you find God there all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless in the first waking moment of the day you learn to fling the door wide back and let God in, you will work on a wrong level all day; but swing the door wide open and pray to your Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God.


aha.