I love where I live. My husband and I sold our four bedroomed raised bungalow and bought a small, manufactured home in a private community. The community is situated by a small lake that is quite deep, and also has its’ own pool. I prefer to swim in the lake.
The thing about swimming across the lake is that there are no lines under you like they have in the pool, to help you go in a straight line. And when I do the crawl, I do not seem able to go in a straight line. One time recently, when I was determined to keep my head down and swim as far as I could without taking a break, I discovered that I had almost swam round in a circle! Every day I try to swim back and forth across the lake three times. Swimming in a circle is not what I want to do. In order to make sure that I am going directly across the lake, I have realised that I need to stop every fifteen or so strokes, and look up, and if necessary to readjust where I am heading. Sometimes I need to do that in my walk with the Lord too.
When I was seventeen, I asked the Lord to be my boss. I became a Christian. Since then I have walked with him for many years, and although I have never backslidden, there have been many times when I was not being faithful to all that he had shown me. It’s not like I was swimming in a circle, but rather that my goal, that which I was aiming for, had moved slightly to the side, and I was not pursuing it as carefully as I should have been. As I was swimming today, I was reminding myself of the important things that the Lord has taught me, and determining to put them at the centre again.
The first thing that came to mind was thanksgiving. I used to wake up in the morning and think of ten things to give thanks to the Lord for. It didn’t matter if they were the same things as yesterday, or similar things to yesterday, it was just that I needed to express my gratitude. Then I stopped doing it first thing, and instead spoke out my thanksgiving at various times during the day. Then it wasn’t every day. And then it wasn’t.
I need to purpose to express my gratitude to the Lord. Not necessarily the same time every day, I just need to make sure that I am doing it. Regularly. Thank you Lord for my family, thank you that my husband is feeling better, thank you that I get to see my children tomorrow, thank you that I get to see my grandchildren tomorrow too. Thank you that my dog is healthy, thank you that she likes to walk, thank you that I have many friends, thank you that I can go swimming every day. Thank you Lord for fresh fruit and vegetables. Oh there is so much that I need to be thanking the Lord for.
Closely linked to thanksgiving is praise and worship. It is important for me to take time to worship the Lord regularly, not just when I’m in a meeting. Meeting with other Christians is really important too, though. I admit I look forward to Sundays, when I gather with other Christians to worship the Lord. I love being with so many other people who are freely worshipping the Lord. But when I am alone I need to make the effort to worship the Lord also. We are very fortunate to have many supports for our worship. I like to put music on and sing along. Apart from anything else – that keeps me in tune. And to be honest there are times when I do not feel like worshipping the Lord, and joining in with someone else, albeit on the internet, is so much easier than doing it all on my own. And when I do not have the option of singing with someone else, I still need to make the effort to worship the Lord – and I do. Loudly proclaiming the truth about God can break chains. And I want to live according to the truth.
The third area that the Lord has frequently reminded me to be doing, is intercession. I find it easy to pray for my family, and I do so every day. I’m pretty good at praying for my friends too, and people I work with, and neighbours. Where I often struggle, is remembering to pray for those people who I have never met, but that I know need prayer. When the awful situation began in Ukraine, I prayed a lot. Then it seemed to drag on. I couldn’t see if God was answering my prayers. And certainly the main one, for peace in Ukraine, was not falling into place yet. So I stir myself up, and pray again for Ukraine, trusting that the Lord is hearing my intercessions.
There are so many other situations where I need to be praying, fully recognising that I will probably never know if my prayers are making any difference. But believing God that they are.
And the last important thing that I need to be regularly doing is reading and studying the Scriptures. I try and read through the Bible once every year, although that often means twice for the New Testament, and only once for the Old Testament. I have always loved the Scriptures, so this last area is generally one that I don’t need reminding about. Every day I will read at least a few verses in my devotion time, and many days I will read a lot more. And there are lots of good resources available on the internet for me to look up anything that I need further clarification on.
That’s it. Four things that I need to regularly check that they are ongoing in my walk with the Lord. And when those are in place, I find that I am walking in a straight-line forwards in my relationship with him.
Mary Foulger - Author, speaker and intercessor 