November 8, 2015

Before I talk about what happened on November 8, I will show you this picture of my husband, at the dining table/homeschool table here at Momo's apartment, in his bear hunting head-wrap, working on his PhD.

Just a picture of our lives right now.

And now, let me rewind to Friday, November 6, where I sat at the rodeo arena in Fort Smith, Arkansas, listening to Angus Buchan speak (you know, the Faith Like Potatoes guy from South Africa). At once he pointed his finger directly at me and said, "You aren't reading your Bible. How do I know that? The Holy Spirit just told me so."

Wow! Angus was right! I hadn't cracked my Bible since the women's conference a couple of weeks prior (the women's conference for which I was the keynote speaker). I studied my Bible diligently in preparation for the conference, but then I sort of...um...took a breather. That is often the case with me, I study the Bible faithfully and then life-as-a-mother-of-four becomes too much for me - becomes my excuse - and my thinline NIV sits unopened for days or weeks on end.

This brings me to November 8, 2015, at Heritage Church in Van Buren, Arkansas, where a guest speaker from the Gideons came before the congregation. He shared the story of a 19-year-old man whose mother's dying wish was that her son read the Bible and pray every single day of his life. The son promised his mother that he would, and from that day on, he was never the same. How could he be, when he was reading his Bible and praying every day? 

How many backsliders do you know of who were reading their Bibles and praying daily right up until the moment they walked away from G0D? I can answer that for you. None.

So I find myself sitting in the pew actually wishing someone would die so they could make that dying wish of me. Then maybe I'd actually do it!

And then I realized I didn't need someone to die for me to make such a commitment. And so I did, right then and there. I committed to never breaking my fast in the morning (eating breakfast) until I've read my Bible and prayed. Never again will anything pass my lips after a night's sleep - other than water - until I have read and prayed. 

Woohoo! What a day November 8, 2015 was for me! And I expect to never be the same.

Sorry about the pose, my MIL wanted to show her friend a pic of this shirt.