Quenching my fire

 

Quenching my own Fire?

This is something I have really been struggling with lately. It appears I am flying through life and missing so much. Life is a constant busy, with kids, sports, housework, even church life. The constant push and pull of all these mundane activities have put me on auto pilot. I am going through the motions, but my heart is not in it. My view of these things has become burdensome and less lively. I feel as though I am living a constant to do list with no end. This outlook hinders us from so many opportunities. I have to make a change in my life so I can thrive and not just survive the day to day to dos.

I have let my mind go from seeing these things as blessings from God, to seeing them as checks on a list. I have lost my perspective and it is so easy to do I didn’t even realize it until it was to late. Now how do I fix it. I must first change my mind set. I must see everything as an opportunity and a blessing. I must slow down and enjoy the moments God has given me to grow and become who he has created me to be.

Starting with the mundane everyday chores and ending with the crazy hustle and bustle of our everyday life. I need to trust Gods process and lean on him and be grateful for all the reasons behind the checklist! It isn’t just a checklist. What is the purpose and the reason behind each item on that list.

Chores	Gratitude
Dishes	My family is fed.
Laundry	My family has clean clothes to wear.
Picking up clutter	My kids have toys to play with and things to do.
Grocery Shopping	We can provide food for our family.
Errands	We have everything we need.

 

Every item on the checklist has a greater purpose and has a reason to be thankful for. We are constantly grumbling about the little things in life when we should be grateful for the joys they bring. God is so gracious, and things could be so much worse than all the tasks we let destroy our days and our minds. I’m not saying it will be easy. Changing your mindset can be tough and we need God’s strength for that.

This verse tells me I have been doing everything all wrong lately. God has given me a job as a wife and mother to take care of my family. It is a God given duty and I have not had my heart in it. I have been doing it all in vain. I have been taking all his blessings for granted. Does grumbling and complaining about our day to day tasks bring God the glory he deserves. Just like Israel in the book of Hosea (that’s what we are studying in Sunday school) I have been going through the motions of it all and my heart has not been right. I have not been the light of God that I need to be. I have been quenching my own fire for him with my own selfish desires. All the constant running I am doing has been in vain all my labor has been in vain. I am in need of a lot of work.

 

My Testimony

I would like to start by sharing a little about my own walk with Christ. I was not one of those people who was raised in church. I went to the occasional V.B.S and my Nana took me when she could. I knew all the stories and I knew right from wrong. What I didn’t know was the feeling of Jesus truly working in your life. I thought for some long everything was going fine, but every bump or bend in the road would throw me so far out of wack; it would take me forever to get back to normal. 

      At 17, I started attending church regularly and I felt God’s pull on my heart, with a lump in my throat and tears all down my face. I knew the only relief was to come to God and that is where my life started change. Everything started to get better, but I didn’t change my life. I slowly fell out of church and away from God. I spent many years in a rut living a life a knew was wrong. 

      After the birth of my first child a long time family friend had come to visit and she started coming regularly to study with me and it really made me want to learn the truth about the Bible, about Jesus. There is so many different denominations and people believe so many different things. It is hard for someone who has very little background in faith to see what is true. The more I studied the more I grew in faith. 

             We studied for a few years and when our daughter went to V.B.S at our little country church. We went to visit and it all seemed to click. That is where we were meant to be. It was the truest feeling of home I had ever felt. After that first visit we never missed a Sunday. (unless we.we’re sick)  Everything started falling into place. We grew in our knowledge and in an amazing church family. They are so important to my testimoy, I don’t know what I would do without them.

    I have never truly fell apart of anything. Always trying to fit in and make myself apart of something I was never intended to be apart of. I constantly felt alone, or like an outcast. But Whalen God came into it, it was so easy. I didn’t even have to try. They welcomed me with open arms! 

      God has truly opened my eyes to an entirely new way of life, and I couldn’t be more grateful. When you truly let God into your life your perspective and priorities change. When God steps in he pulls you out of the darkness and chaos of all things worldly and turns on the light to show you how loved and cared for you truly are.