Revive Our Hearts, Lord

These past few weeks have been really busy, with school, online business, work, family and church ministry just piling on top of each other. I am currently a preschool teacher three days a week and a full-time student the rest of the time. I teach four and five-year old students and lately our center has been a hubbub of learning and fun chaos. Most of my free time is delegated on church and ministry, family and an online business I am trying to get started to have some extra cash on the side. Needless to say, it has been a really adventurous few weeks. Monday was my all time low so far, spilling my coffee on the roof of my car (don’t ask) and barely getting to eat half a banana on the way to work. It was a brutal day and it ended with me being very frustrated and feeling very impatient, impatient enough to even mutter at my car! As you can see, it was a low moment and not one of my proud ones.

I am, in some ways, a very detail-oriented perfectionist. My days run by a strict schedule in my head and output is criticized by how well it is presented and how well it is received. Far too often than not, this causes a struggle in my daily walk of faith. When I get distracted by the worries of this world, it becomes somewhat natural to evaluate everything just based on what I do and how I do it. It becomes easy to focus on me and more difficult to have a heart that solely is focused on Christ.

Psalm 1:1-3 always hits it home for me, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and who leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

Notice how beautiful the psalmist paints a picture of a tree that never thirsts and never withers all because it has an all-powerful Source that it’s connected to. Like our hearts, whose very nature is to find comfort and wander idly in the world, it is a blessing knowing that reviving is what Christ does through the Holy Spirit. Reviving our hearts and spurring us on to a life lived to glorify Christ in any and every way is just one of the many things we can enjoy as Christian women.

I am tired, and I do feel it increasing this semester but at the same time, I am at peace knowing that God has provided so many opportunities this week to learn and to discipline me. It is such a comfort knowing that even if our hearts get tired, grace works overtime and way beyond human boundaries. Like the beautiful verse in John says, “He must be greater, and I must be less. [paraphrase]” (John 3:30)

Dearest Lord,

May our lives and hearts be ever fixed on You. This life is so busy and it is very easy to get distracted and discouraged but we thank You for Your ever-abounding grace that spurs us on. May You revive our hearts - that any distraction be replaced with a desire to glorify God. May You revive our families and friends who need the comfort and peace of the Spirit as well. May You revive our churches that we all grow in Spirit and in Truth. Lastly, please revive our country as well as other countries in the world to fear You, love You and live for You knowing that conviction from the Holy Spirit brings about true repentance. In Your name, Amen.