Monday Manna - God's Rhythm

To find other Monday Manna blog entries, go to Joanne's, An Open Book.

This past week has been extremely hard on my heart. I watched a friend deal with difficult situations that appeared to have no good ending but God did intervene and so far, things appear to be going pretty well.

My family also took a big hit. Past sins of an older generation forced itself onto a younger one. It was sickening and disgusting. The good thing is that he was caught and will now pay for his sins.

Beason slayings: Manhunt is on after family slayings

Not only that, the small community of Beason, where my husband is the Fire Chief/EMT, is dealing with brutal murders of an entire family. A person believed to be the murderer has been caught but not before he showed up at the funeral. How sick and brazen is that?

Today's Monday Manna verse is from Deuteronomy 30:6 and is perfect for this week as I look back and ponder the happenings.

GOD, your God, will cut away the thick calluses on your heart and your children's hearts, freeing you to love GOD, your God, with your whole heart and soul and live, really live. (The Message)

At times it's hard for our hearts not to get callused. We watch the news and everything is negative plus much of it doesn't deal with us or affect our lives. We grow numb to world events.

Entire villages were decimated in Samoa from a tsunami. Does that pull at our heart strings at all? Do we think to pray for these people who have lost family members, homes, and businesses? I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't. If it doesn't happen in my own little piece of the world then I most probably am not paying any attention.

Truthfully, I think it's too overwhelming to take on any more grief and pain. When thinking of that, it makes me realize the load Jesus carried when He died for all of our sins - the whole world's sins. Amazing.

And now, as God sees what's happening on the earth - the murders, liars, deceivers - how that must break His heart but He never grows callous towards us.

It's important now more than ever to lose that hard heart we've managed to grow in our bodies. All we have to do is ask and God will do heart surgery on us. And when He does do this, He is giving us a life of freedom -- life that is truly one to be lived and enjoyed.

He can change us from the inside out. All we have to do is ask. Surgery is painful, but when God is The Surgeon, it is never botched. It is most successful. Our hearts won't be bandaged up anymore or stitched together haphazardly. We'll have a perfectly healthy one that beats in God's rhythm. That's what I want, no matter how long it takes.

I'm praying that this coming week is less dramatic, at least in my family and friend's lives and in our nearby communities but if it isn't, I know that God is constantly with me, working on me as I allow. I also pray that God will allow me to see the world through His eyes as I watch the news. It is sad and depressing but how can we pray if we aren't aware?