What are you missing?

August 6, 2015 Devotion

What are you missing? By: Lysa Terkeurst

“The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.” Psalm 14:2 (NIV)

A few summers ago, my son Mark was working at a family camp. While the mountains were breathtaking, the friends were plentiful and the food was every teenager’s dream, he missed home. Not horribly — but just enough to tug on the vulnerable places of his heart.
I knew he needed some sweet comfort from home. So, I packaged up some things he needed and a few items I knew would make him happy and sent my gift of love.
After a few days, I kept wondering when I’d get a text from him with smiles and “Thank you!” and “Wow! You’re the best mom ever!” messages. A girl can dream, right?
But no text message came.
Each day that went by, I grew more and more frustrated by his lack of acknowledgement of my gift. I started to wonder if he’d even received it. So I had Art, my non-emotional husband, call because he could simply ask, “Did you get the package from Mom?”
Our son answered, “Oh yeah, I did get a box from Mom, but I haven’t opened it yet.”
Huh?
Who receives a gift of love packaged up and sent to them and doesn’t even take the time to open it?
In that moment, I felt the Holy Spirit prick my soul, “Lysa, sometimes you do this very same thing. Oh, if you only knew the number of experiences God Himself has packaged up and sent your way that you didn’t take time to open …
“Or the number of times God has planted a bunch of wildflowers at the end of your driveway just to make you smile, but in the rush of where you were headed, you didn’t notice …
“Or the number of times God has treasures in His Word waiting for you to uncover that would perfectly prepare you for something you’d be facing that day, if only you’d lingered with Him a little longer.”

Today’s key verse, Psalm 14:2, reminds us, “The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”

I wish this verse were worded differently. I wish this verse read: “The LORD looks down from heaven to see MANY who understand, MANY who seek God.” But that’s not the reality of the verse. And sadly, sometimes in the rush of all I feel I must do, it’s not the reality of my life.
I want it to be. But my soul is so prone to distractions.

Seeking — really seeking — is more than just reading a few verses from the Bible in the morning and trying to be a good person that day. Seeking requires me to sacrifice the things I feel compelled to chase so I can be available to notice God’s clear direction.

Whatever we chase, like it or not, gains our full attention.
And I wonder sometimes why I feel a little insecure — a little unsettled — a little disappointed with things I thought would make me so happy. I guess you could say sometimes I get a little homesick.

While I love vacationing here in this world for however many years the Lord will give me, I know where my real home is, and I know Who is waiting for me there.
And now I know He takes time to tie up little care packages from home — a few things I need, a few things I’m supposed to pass on to others, and a few things He knows will simply bring me joy.
Then God waits … to see … if I’ll notice — if I’ll remember … if today will be the day … that I lift up my face … pause in the busyness … and really seek Him.

Dear Lord, forgive me for all the times I’ve rushed by Your gifts and overlooked Your blessings. Today, I want to pause and really seek You with all I’ve got. I love You, Lord. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (NIV)

I loved reading Lysa’s devotion this morning. Another mighty lesson that I learned while in Ecuador was to slow down. There is so much beauty right around us, but we fail to see it because of the busyness and distractions of our daily lives. We all have special packages waiting right in front of us that we never take the opportunity to open because our eyes are on the lesser things of the world. Things that are of little importance to his big picture. One of my biggest prayers while I was in Ecuador was for the Lord to grace me with a heart like his, to be able see through his eyes, and to hear through his ears. Ecuador enabled me to experience his glory first hand. It’s been hard getting back into the daily grind here in the states. Feeling the joy there and seeing God’s gifts has become a constant reminder to slow down and put away the distractions, and to look for him everywhere. Where you seek, you will find. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21

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The McLeod's

Welcome to our blog! We’re glad you stopped by and we hope you come back and visit. We want you to be a part of our journey! We are John and Chelsea McLeod. Best friends who are embracing the most precious gift of marriage and life. On the way to be full time missionaries and currently living a life mentoring those broken by addiction from both sides of the pain- loved ones and those struggling with addiction. Here you will find our recorded histories of life, love, struggles, and the journeys that encompass our wanderlust spirits all with an unfailing love for God and His ever so perfect redemption and grace over our lives. Here lies a safe place where our minds wander off into the deepest places with documentation to never be erased. We don’t want our memories to fall between the cracks somewhere, so we write. We don’t want to forget how far God has brought us, so we make records that will prayerfully live on for generations and give others hope who have lost theirs. We met in the most divine of appointments thousands of miles apart that only God could orchestrate. Had our first date watching a fiery sunset go down over the Georgia coast, and ultimately fell in love over kindred spirits that beat for where and what God passionately filled our hearts with. Hindsight, and years later, we can see that God had big plans all along that we couldn’t see. Through our broken pasts, He was preparing us for each other and a future of redemption and testimony. {{{{Everyone has a story and this is ours:}}}}} He’s a Georgia boy, she’s a Carolina girl. ----Hi, I’m Chelsea!---- I’m a native Carolina girl who loves to explore anywhere I’ve never been. An old soul and an extroverted-introvert with a deep heart that overflows with passion and a hunger for God to use me to change this world for the better. Mysterious and meek to the eye, and particularly passionate for the very things that set my heart on fire, especially the things and people that my heart beats for. I get filled up in the untouched outdoors where I can always see and feel His splendor. I am a Master cosmetologist by trade with a BA in Social Work and Counseling. These which intermix daily. I absolutely love the career that God has placed me in and daily, it allows me to love on people all around me. If I can make one person smile a day, my heart holds a fullness that keeps me coming back for more. I believe in forgiveness and miracles because I’ve witnessed them both. I don’t want my life to be about what I accomplished but what God accomplished through me. To me, I’ve learned that in life there is good and bad, right and wrong, excuses and no excuses. But alongside of these very things is engulfed with a ton of grace, growth, and redemption. I don’t ever want to pay the cost of not following my heart, by spending the rest of my life wishing I had. ----Hi, I’m John!---- I’m a born and bred Georgia boy where my blood runs strong with salt water. I was born and raised on the coast where everything I did was engulfed with water and the outdoors. I’m a bold soul with a gentle spirit who loves to help others in any way that I can to believe in themselves and God’s plan over their lives. By trade I hold the title of professional hunter and fisher with a 100 ton captain’s license. What started in Georgia took me out to Alaska where I found my career there, then south Florida and the open blue water. I’ve seen a lot and experienced a lot of God’s beauty and I will be forever grateful for that. Today I’ve taken on the title of “Fisher of men.” After enduring a wearisome season of addiction, God called me to use my pain to help others in addiction ministry and it has become one of the greatest joys of my life. It’s what I live for in showing people they can overcome something that most think they can’t. Offering hope where there is none. Testifying that something they always thought they would be, is only a season that God is ready and wants to use. Where Chelsea serves alongside me pouring into the loved ones. It’s where my passion is, it’s where we love to help others find freedom the same way we did. Today, Chelsea and I are grateful for our struggles because we know that what the enemy meant for evil, God used for good. Here we will write and share. Not to glorify us, but to glorify Him and what He is doing in our lives. The magnificent ways that He is moving and the unfathomable circumstances that He has and will bless us with. All glory goes to Him. We hope you enjoy!!

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