Though we haven’t mastered it yet, my wife and I are trying to pray together more often. The other day when we had finished, we just sat for a bit discussing where we were in life -and particularly, where we’d be if we didn’t have children.  At first, we began dwelling on the realization that if it were just “us,” we’d be living quite differently -with ample time to ourselves, plentiful opportunities for trips -of course extra money, and so forth. Many of you know, along with the tremendous blessing of having and raising kids come all of the “other” things: responsibility, sacrifice, and certain discomforts and pressures within the family itself.

It’s funny how after praying, your perspective seems to change and broaden, because it was then that we immediately began to hear the Lord say very tenderly, “The pressures and discomforts that come through your growth as parents are actually blessings.” He specifically began to show us that if we hadn’t been given children, we’d more than likely be living a little more “unrestrained,” a little more (seemingly) care-free -but ultimately and truthfully, a little further from a clear, pure awareness of our need to trust and rely on Him.

You see, it’s in the place of pressure and discomfort that we see our need for God -and there that we are invited to trust Him. It’s in the place of our own inadequacy that we are designed to turn to Jesus to complete what we cannot; to be effective where -without Him, we’re ineffective (John 15:5 paraphrased). The patience I’ve needed, and still need as a father, the selflessness I need as a husband, and the great need for balance and wisdom as the head of our home only come from the solace of knowing God and learning to trust that He believes in me and cares for me (1 Peter 5:7).
Something that is becoming so very apparent to me is the reality of God’s daily pursuit of my heart, the fact that God did not stop pursuing my heart when I initially decided to accept Christ as Savior. No, God is chasing me down for every piece of my heart that He died for in Christ. He desires me -all that Ben is. And He desires you -all that makes up “you.”

I would ask you today, what is the situation that is causing pressure (maybe heart-aching pressure) in your life? And, knowing this, to whom or to what are you turning to ease this pressure? Are you turning to Jesus? Maybe some of you would just flat out reply, “I just want my situation fixed…” Some would go as far to say, “I just want my life fixed.”  To you I would ask, please think about this:

Proverbs 4:23 says “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
God knows that our heart directs the course of our life. From it, everything follows. So the truth is that our situations, circumstances, possessions etc. are not the sum of our life. Our heart is. And if our heart is in any other place apart from reliance on God through Christ, nothing but unhappiness will follow (Psalm 16:1-4). This is why He wants all of us. Because “all” of us begins with our heart. Today I pray that you see God’s heart in a new way. That through the gift that He’s given in Jesus, we are given access to true and lasting comfort, even in the middle pressure and discomfort.

Father, I just pray for my friends today, that they will see our one need for You. I ask that you will give them courage to open up to You in a new way. I ask that you show them that their situation is NOT outside of your ability to heal, take care of, and make right. I thank you and I love you. In Jesus name I pray, amen. God bless you guys.