Last night I had every intention of starting my morning...and the rest of the mornings this year, with prayer and Bible Study. As many good intentions do, mine did not happen. It was my plan to take the 30 minutes I have after my middle schooler leaves for school and before I have to wake my elementary 2, to read and pray. However, I was tired (I'm always tired nowdays) and I justified, as I so easlily can, and chose to lay down for those 30 minutes. Of course, by the time my alarm went off, I had not fallen asleep, so I felt worse. After getting my next 2 off to school, I lay back down and 15 minutes later my 3 year old wakes up. By now, I'm very cranky (big shock) and I'm getting a headache from trying to sleep. After his breakfast, I unfairly wrestle him down and make him lie down again while I try to sleep. We both finally fall asleep for a short while.
Now this is definitely NOT how I wanted to start my day. I have gotten nothing accomplished, I'm in a bad mood, I still did not have a quiet time with the Lord, and now I have a slight headache! I decided sit down at the computer while I ate my lunch and read some of the blogs I follow, but have not gotten to check for the last couple of weeks over the holidays. Can you imagine my surprise when I pull up the first one by
Mark Batterson and read this...
The 21-Day Prayer Challenge begins today!
I believe that your destiny is determined in the early daylight hours. How you start the day will determine what the rest of the day is like. That is why praying and reading Scripture in the morning is so important. It sets the tone. Like turning the dial on your radio, it’s the way you tune into God’s frequency. And that daily discipline will ultimately determine your destiny.
He also included the verse found in Psalms 5:3
"In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning, I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation." Wow. I felt like my Heavenly Father had just sat down to lunch with me and shared with me His desires for my year ahead! I'm also thinking my little justification of "being tired" is not going to cut it in the morning! :) So, although it is afternoon, I am going to try to "begin again" and see if I can salvage what is left of this day that the Lord has made for me!
Today I am "2 Years Cancer Free"! Although my official bloodwork is not until next week, today is exactly 2 years from my first surgery to remove the cancer! This is a big one for me. Because of the particular aggressive nature of the type of cancer that I had, (love saying HAD), the highest rate of return is within the first 2 years. Reaching this milestone gives me hope that I will reach my 5 year mark, the next big goal, and still be able to say "cancer free!"