The Practice of Bending

For so many months I had been bent in prayer, waiting expectantly for God to visibly show up in our family's life. Offering sacrifices of praise, (thanking God for who He was when it was the last thing I felt like doing), hunting down the hopeful things in hopeless places, choosing to focus on what I knew of God rather than what I saw in life. These are practices God had already shaped in me through His loving and faithful hand in a long chain of ordinary days. These were practices that became habits that became the life-blood in the midst of unexpected and terrible circumstances.

Being on the other side of the dark: rhythms of ordinary life have replaced the pounding of desperation; laughter and chatter have replaced the deafening silence of overwhelm; fresh purpose and energy have kicked the weary and heavy laden to the curb. Looking back at all these kinds of days, I can see the one steady in it all: the habit of my Father God lavishing His grace and love in such personal ways that I catch a fresh glimpse of why He's worth all the praise. Why the choice to bend my heart to Him is always the best decision I will ever make.

How is He lavishing you right now?