God Time

My four-year-old son, Jackson, was trying to get his straw in the juice pouch when he got lost in the food court crowd. I thought he was right behind me, but when we finally found a table and turned around, we saw he wasn’t there. I figured he couldn’t have gone far. In fact, he was probably near the live performance happening over by the stage. I looked everywhere for his red-and-brown striped shirt and khaki cargo shorts, but I didn’t see him.

As fear started to rise in my throat, I called his name. Surely he was around the food court somewhere. A few minutes went by, and I still couldn’t find him. I walked around, frantically yelling his name louder and louder.

One by one, people came up to me. “Is someone you love lost? How can I help? What is his name? What is he wearing? How old is he?”

Complete strangers were willing to act like fools running around yelling the name of a boy they’d never even met.

Five minutes went by. Ten minutes went by. Fifteen minutes went by.

I felt as though my heart stopped beating. Had someone taken him? How could he have gotten so far away? Was there an accident of some kind? So many fears swirled in my head.

In the meantime another mom, busy with her own kids and with plenty on her mind, saw a little boy sitting alone on a bench. He looked scared and alone and was fumbling with the button on his pocket. She put everything she was doing on hold and walked over to him.

“Can I help you?”

She knew what it meant for a mama to lose her baby. She helped him open his shorts pocket, and she called the number on the paper. A few minutes later, I was the happiest, most thankful mom in the world.

Shift Your God-Time Perspective

One of the most important reasons we start every day with Jesus is not that it’s something to check off our Christian to-do list. It’s important because God loves His children unfathomably, even more than I love my son, and He’s asking you and me to help reach them. He doesn’t need us to preach from the rooftops. He just wants us to be willing to come before Him each day and ask, “Is someone you love lost? How can I help?”

Shift 1: It’s Not About a Checklist

Maybe God wants you to reach out to a neighbor today.

Maybe someone in your home or a stranger at the store needs an encouraging word or a smile. Maybe you’ll simply inspire others by the choices you make and the way you live the day. You may never know. But if you take the time to ask Him each morning, you just might get to be the rescuer who leads someone back to their Father who loves them more than life itself.

Maybe the person God wants to rescue is you.

To have you come close each day to hear how He loves you and cares for you. To give you time to lay your burdens at His feet. Maybe you have deep hurts that need to be healed before you can even think about helping others, and daily time with God is the remedy.

Whatever the reason, the fact is that the most powerful thing we can do is build a habit of listening to God each day. To bring Him glory, to remember His goodness, and to steady our hearts before the storms hit, begin the day by studying His Word, praying, and worshipping.

No program, self-help book, course, or video could help you more. No mentor, pastor, or counselor can more effectively heal your hurts than meeting with God each day. Those are all wonderful and needed things, but He must be our foundation. He knows us, understands us, and loves us more than we can comprehend.

He is simply worthy of our time, our energy, and our efforts. We were made to worship Him, and when we have rightly tuned our hearts to His, we can be a part of the symphony He is conducting.

Excerpted with permission from Hello Mornings by Kat Lee, copyright Rachel Lee.

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Your Turn

Before we even get out of bed, we can say hello to God and ask Him to guide and direct our day. We can attune our hearts to him, worship, give thanks, ask, and stop and listen to what He may say. Who can you reach out to today to share Jesus’ love? We’d love to know! Come share with us on our blog!