Monday, June 1, 2009

Day One: Ready to Go?

I woke up this morning to find the war of the worlds going on in my mind. On one side, I could hear the hopeful opening lines of Ryanhood's song, AROUND THE SUN ("Ready to go? Honey let's begin...we'll try to see by the light of the sun and tell it like it is...") playing on my mental soundtrack, while at the same time I felt this deep need to consider giving up on everything I planned on praying for during this 40 Days of Faith. You know that rational-sounding voice that says (so persuasively), "You'd be fine without that, now, wouldn't you? Maybe you should just move on..."

Not exactly the headspace I expected on Day One! But kind of typical, I'd guess. I bet if you could read the minds of runners at the start of any marathon, you'd find a fair number of them thinking, "What am I doing here? This is a terrible idea..." But then the gun fires and off they go.

So here we go :)

One of the people I follow on Twitter is Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. He's been "tweeting" quotes from a new book on reaching for your dreams by John Maxwell, and if his stragegy is to get me to consider buying the book, it's working...I'm intrigued. Especially something he posted this morning:

"Every journey toward a dream is personal...so is the price that must be paid for it."

More and more lately, I'm struck by the failure of our socital insistance on lumping people together into catagories (diagnosis, personality types, etc...) I think God made us with an astonishing level of variation. So it makes sense that the roads we take to realize our dreams will be unique. So to whatever extent I'm comparing my progress to someone else (or EVERYONE else) I'd do well to cut that out and focus on my own stuff.

So today, as we start out, let's cut out the comparisons, and focus on our own stuff. And on God, to see what information he has for us about this journey.

To help with this, I thought it would be fun to read the Gospel of Luke together. It's the third book in the New Testament, an account of Jesus' life written by a doctor. If you were part of last year's 40 Days of Faith, you may remember Luke as the author of the book Acts (the story of the adventures of Jesus' apostles after His resurrection). Luke's Gospel is the prequel to Acts...which means we're going at this kind of like Star Wars :)

Here's a link to the first chapter...it's like reality TV, with miracles!

If you click on the video below to hear Ryanhood singing, you'll hear that the next lines to come along after the call to start out are exactly on point for me today:

"I wanna overcome pain, without feeling pain. Yeah, I guess I want what I want when I want it, yeah I want it both ways..."

Today, whether we feel ready or not, we're starting out. The gun has fired, it's time to pray. This is (most likely) gonna hurt. Let's do it anyway. Let's ask God for the things we want most in our lives, whether they seem reasonable or not. And then let's listen, to see what He has to say. Let's ask him to move us to someplace we can't get to on our own.

15 comments:

Sarakastic said...

This song is going to be stuck in my head all day and I'm so glad.

heiress said...

Romans 4:18 (NLT) says "Even when there was no reason for hope-Abraham kept on hoping-believing..."

This is how I feel today...I can't give up...I have to believe that God will fulfill every promise in my life.

larramiefg said...

Been "...waiting a long time...," huh? Well that puts 40 Days of Faith in perspective. It feels good to be back.

And thank you for the Twitter link.

Stella said...

"I wanna overcome pain, without feeling pain. Yeah, I guess I want what I want when I want it, yeah I want it both ways..."

WOW, do those lines ever describe me ... I hate change when its messy and everyone gets to watch it happen and its embarrassing.

Beth Moore likes to tell a story of a woman who told her that she (the woman) wanted what Beth had (an amazing faith and walk with God), but didn't want to get it the way Beth got it! LOL!!!

I blew my "fast" this morning ... I don't think I can go completely without coffee. Is it still a "fast" if I cut back to just a partial cup when I wake up? That eliminates the second cup at work and 2 Starbucks lattes. Suppose I should have had a back-up plan ... GRIN, Stella

Maya said...

Hi, I'm in this 40 days fasting.

Breeza said...

I'm so glad you set this up again this year. I participated last year and got some answers from God, but I'm still waiting and hoping for two major things. I can't wait to see what God does this year.

suzanneelizabeths.com said...

I'm so glad I checked my blog reader today and found that you were starting this up again! This comes at the perfect time and I'm ready to go!

kim said...

Thanks for keeping it real, Trish. Yes, it is hard and scary; but I'm also feeling like there is no other option -- it's time to make the leap of trust. I keep looking for certainty to feel better, but then I remember faith is the substance of things hoped for. Why can't it be easier than this. But then again, I just have to trust his plan.

Anonymous said...

i want to praise God for working in such amazing ways. it is so unbelievable that God would place so many of the same things on our hearts. how He loves to work things out for us...to bring us support and hope. there is much happening in the spiritual world around us, and i am scared and excited. more than anything i am thankful that He is beside me each step and that He has found in His goodness to provide some amazing women along the way.

Abby Green said...

I'm really excited about this focused time ahead of prayer and fasting...thanks for encouraging it! I also really appreciated reading what you wrote about cutting out comparisons...that was something I noticed had crept quite forcefully into my life lately that I really don't want any part of. My fast at first had been for something we've really been in need of (financial provision)...but after reading this I felt like saying, not just financial provision, but for it to be specifically through music so that we don't need to get a lot of odd jobs which take our attention off of music...AND, I'd like to even have enough financial resources so that I can take Spanish lessons (something I've really wanted to do)! I know God is big and mighty and ready to give us our heart's desires! :)

MY Sex and The City said...

I am focused the next 40 Days and looking forward to what answers I get....

pamcl said...

Hi Trish,

Thank you for doing this again! I missed it last year, but am looking forward to this year's 40 days. I do have a question though. A few people have mentioned fasting, but I didn't see that in your posts, could you touch on that?

bananaluver said...

thanks for doing this--I am excited to get out of my prayer rut right now. love the Ryanhood song and can't wait to get the CD.

Myowne said...

I am partaking in the 40 Days of Faith this year. By the time I found out about it last year, it was almost halfway over. So...I'm in...

I am asking God for a husband, the man that God has in His heart for me and the man that is meant for me. I am also asking for favor with the publishing company I sent my novel to in October of last year.

Nic (NotPerfect) said...

I'm doing it again this year. I did it last year and while I didn't get the answer I was looking for, it did further my exploration into Christianity. This year I'm having a hard time choosing what I should pray for, I want a lot of things (husband, to be skinny, to be a better Christian. Not necessarily in that order, of course.) And I also don't know what I'm going to fast from. This doesn't sound like a great start for me.