The Lord has been humbling me through physical sickness and I believe it’s His way of telling me to slow down and trust Him. I used to never get sick, but nowadays every time something goes around, I’m catching it! It’s God’s way of telling me to slow down and rest in Him.

One of the idols of mine, I confess to you, is hard working. Of course, there is nothing wrong with hard working in and of itself. But if it becomes the measure of my identity and worth, then it has taken the place of God and I have a false idol. And it is very hard for me to simply rest. Whenever I’m resting, I feel like I’m wasting time. I feel like I should be doing something productive in order for me to be worthwhile. God has graciously built in the sabbath for us to rest and trust Him and when we ignore it, we tend to pay for its consequences.

Please pray for me to be able to rest in the Lord and be deeply entrenched in His word daily. But I do want to share a word with you. I’m using my drive time to work (school) efficiently (!) by memorizing scripture. And I’m attempting to memorize the entire Romans 8. This morning, verse 8 caught my attention – “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” And who are in the flesh? Those whose minds are on the flesh. (v. 5). This, as opposed to the mind on the spirit. 1 John puts it, “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.”

It’s a fight, isn’t it? We are constantly fighting with our flesh! Fighting with our smartphones. Fighting with our food. Fighting with sleep. Fighting with self-image and idols… Oh, who will deliver us from this body of death! “Thanks to be God through Jesus Christ our Lord!!!” (Romans 7:24)

From a fellow struggler,

PH