Time to Get Fruity

Several weeks ago I began feeling ill at ease every time I made a decision. I am not talking about decisions like, do I buy that car or not. I'm talking about deciding what to eat for lunch, how to spend my afternoon, and should I buy that new pair of shoes or not. (If you know me at all you know that I do NOT need a new pair of shoes). A few weeks after my niggling feelings began my pastor preached a sermon from Ephesians. I sat and listened to him talk about how God needs to be in the forefront of our minds at all times and how our decisions need to made based on his will for us. Now this is certainly not new information to me. Before any large decision is made IE buying a new car, choosing whether or not to take a job, I always go to the Lord in prayer. The pastor did not stop there. He began to talk about how the things in our lives that we put before God are our idols (another bit of info that is not new to me) then he did it, he said, are you putting food before God, how about things, maybe you put your children before God. The list went on, and I felt myself trying to sink into the pew.

God had been preparing my heart for this sermon!

I went home that afternoon feeling very unsettled. I had just sat through a sermon full of information that I already knew, but I felt like the Holy Spirit had picked me up and had given me a good shake and said, "This is for you. Apply this to your life. Don't just go home and forget this!"

After making lunch I pulled out my Kindle (one of my very favorite things in the whole wide world) and started through the list. Hm, what did I feel like reading? Still feeling unsettled my eyes fell on to the title of a devotional book that I downloaded weeks before. I'm not sure why I never looked at it, but I think God may have allowed it because I needed to be at just the right spot before I began to read it. The devotional is called Craving God. when I downloaded it I had no idea of the content and had never heard of the author. The title just sounded good. It turns out the book is about Craving God instead of food specifically. As I began to read I kept coming across the phrase, self control. I remember telling my kids when they were small that self control is doing the right thing even when you don't feel like it. Now as I continued reading that annoying niggling feeling got worse and worse. Yea, I use self control in all the big events, but the little things are getting by. And self control isn't just some nice little thing that we should try; it is one of the fruits of the spirit. So I told God, "God, I need to get fruity, and I'd like to start with self control. Please give me the strength to follow this through and to see areas where I need to use self control." Wow, what have I gotten myself into........to be continued