Balance.

There is a saying that "busyness kills holiness." It's not anywhere in the Bible, yet has proven to be true in my life time after time.

This time is no different.

It has been almost 3 weeks since we returned from Romania, and things have pretty much settled into a normal routine chaos ~ with the addition of probably the most difficult class in my graduate counseling program.

Enter the enemy.

If I can't get her someplace else, I'll get her with this class. It'll make her exhausted and overwhelmed, and she'll get all snappy with her husband. She won't have time to walk her dogs like she should, and as a result, they will fight, run around like mad dogs, and bark at the top of their lungs until she wants to shove her fists down their throats and rip out their vocal cords.

*Ahem*

She will go to work in the nursery on Sunday morning (one more activity which keeps me *busy*) and a well-meaning nursery co-worker will unintentionally push that little *doubt* button.

Her: Have you heard anything about the adoption? No? Man, that's gotta be hard.

Me: You think?
Me: We still have 2 years left in the program, so it could be anytime between now and then. We knew that going in.

Her: How old are you and your husband?

Me: Oh, no you didn't just go *there*
Me: I'm 33, and he will be 42 this year. That's okay. We'll just be like Sarah and Abraham.

Conversation over.

*Sigh*

LORD, please take control of my schedule and help me to do only what is on YOUR schedule for me. I acknowledge that I can't do it on my own. LORD, please protect me from my enemies, for greater are You than any enemy that tries to force their way into my life. Help me to trust You every day with the timing of our adoption. Help me to find balance in my daily life and to pursue You and Your holiness above all else.

Joshua 21:43-45 (italics mine)

So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

John 7:11-16 (words of Jesus to God, the Father)
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your world and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you taken them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.


Living in His JOY, HOPE, and PEACE...



***Don't forget to pray for someone today!