The Struggle is Real

When I feel like I need to write something, I have to get it out of my head. 

You may have noticed me being more vocal about my faith and spirituality. "Geez, what has gotten into her?" you may have thought. You've noticed all the scripture memes and worship songs and church promotionals. I'm aware that I've been more up-in-your-face about the Great Commission and missions too.  

I've read my Bible several times a day consistently for 25 days in a row. I have reading plans on my You Version app that I am committed to reading daily. I'm actually excited about them and it's typically the first thing I open on my phone when I wake up. Oh, I'm devouring every scripture I can read. I'm ravenously meditating on them. I have another teacher devotional, Morning Meetings with Jesus, that I read when I get to school.

Sometimes I share scriptures with others in hopes they will be encouraged by God's words as well. 

As for prayer, sometimes I think I can't express myself well in spoken words; like I won't be thorough enough so I struggle with that. However; I prayed for over an hour last week. 

That same day, I felt led to volunteer to pray for individuals at the Harvest Fest. I prayed over the church event on my own. I had the opportunity to pray with a few individuals on Halloween night.

I'm participating in a scripture writing exercise for the month of November. Each day I write the scripture passage on Voice of the Martyrs stationary to send to persecuted Christians around the world.

"Well, Rebekah, you sure are bragging on yourself. Aren't you just a super Christian!"

I'm not telling you all this because I am strong, rather because I am weak. I'm having to surround myself with God all day in multiple facets to protect against other things. These are positive distractions that keep me from saying and doing things I shouldn't. Christians aren't exempt from the struggles of the flesh and the world. In fact, they are more vulnerable and have a larger target on them. I'd say I've been intentionally zealous for the Lord in order to combat depression, temptation, anger, boredom, and guilt.  

Remember when I said I prayed for over an hour last week? I reached a point where I had to let go of some stuff. I needed to ask God for forgiveness and personally forgive someone else. I was carrying around a heavy burden for over a month and I needed to cast my cares upon him.

So one evening I told Joseph I needed to sneak outside to the kids' tree house. It was important that I had a place I could cry and praise with no hindrances. I took my Bible, a journal, music, and candles with me. Apparently I was outside for over an hour in 50 degrees because when I went back inside, the kids were already in bed. I experienced a miracle while I was out there. Not only was my burden lifted from me, but my cell phone's battery quickly died from music playing non-stop. I was furiously journaling more prayers and I noticed my battery sat on 1%. I prayed that the battery would stay on until I was finished, until He was finished. I stood up to leave the tree house and clicked the screen off and the battery cut off too. Thank you, Jesus!

Just as I started singing the above song by Rita Springer, feeling victorious, Satan has tried to attack me again with my weakness.

So if you see me with arms raised worshiping God while driving down the road, you'll know why!
R