Ever stay up all night watching over someone? I remember the first night, my son, Sasha was in my custody. I sat up just looking at him while he slept. I was in awe of all the Lord had done to bring us together. I was also looking out for the night tremors people told me to expect, because it was common for newly adopted children to wake up scared and disoriented. I also remember the first night caring for my first newborn son at home. Watching over him making sure he was still breathing and did not roll over or get tangled up in his swaddle. I even remember the nights staying up watching over my Abuela to make sure she did not get up in the middle of the night and wander. Through all these times there are some consistent threads: fear, anxiousness, and lack of sleep leading to exhaustion and burn out. Oh how I am so thankful God is not man that He should need sleep! 

Ever struggle with following processes? I often find myself skipping quickly through computer wizard prompts to hurry and get to what I think is the intended end to then only realize the steps I skipped were critical to having the device or application function the way I had desired. Processes and order exist for a reason. By passing and skipping things does have consequences regardless if we acknowledge the impact right away or later. God is a god of order and not chaos, and His word follows suit. 

"Hindsight is 20 / 20" is how the saying goes. Do you ever realize how much understanding, knowledge, and wisdom you gain from looking back on your life experiences? While you are living the specific situation, right in the midst, you gain wisdom, but it is always far less than what you gain from it years down the road.  Since we are finite and cannot know the end from the beginning, and our understanding is limited to what we can comprehend based on revelations and experiences, it is part of God's design for us to learn in this manner. 

I was spending time worshiping when I came across a song with the lyric, "If I had my choice. I would choose you every time."  All of a sudden streams of tears poured forth onto my face because the lyric fell so fittingly with what I had been feeling but not able to articulate. It was uplifting to my soul that there was another person out their wrestling and battling with the same struggle. Desiring to spend all their time with the Lord, worshipping Him, talking to Him, seeking Him, reading about Him, listening to Him, but sometimes that choice is not feasible because we have to work our secular job or love on those around us or we temporarily get distracted by the battle between our flesh and our spirit. Paul, like this worship singer, understood this choice and desire, and in a letter to the Romans explains this wrestling.

Do you ever forget the characteristics of the God who created you? I do. I find myself often needing to be reminded of how faithful He is so that I may trust Him. Or needing to be reminded of how He is a man of His word so it is without a doubt that His words will come to pass. My mind is so feeble. So forgetful. Emotions come in and rise up these irrational thoughts, and if I am not careful, result in foolish actions. However, because our God is so loving and knowing He is not taken by surprise by how His creation acts. In fact, He decided to build in constant reminders to all His creation how much He thinks about them and is working on their behalf.