Day #1: When did you change? & What are you doing here?
[If you want to know how and why this devotional came into existence feel free to read this]
Feel free to share this out with what God was saying to you today ... #mycoloringbookforhisgreatness
What you will need:
- A Bible
- This Devotional
- Some Coloring Utencils
- And a print out of this awesome coloring sheet designed by Nic Mansfield (Instagram and twitter)
Theme: Nostalgia (Self Reflection)
Passage for March 1st 2017: 1 Kings 19:9-14
Bars from “Same Drugs”:
When did you change?
Wendy, you've aged
I thought you'd never grow up
I thought you'd never
Window closed, Wendy got old
I was too late, I was too late
A shadow of what I once was
A Thought:
There is a voice that stops me from encountering what God wants to do in my life. It is my voice speaking out of the past.
For me, the vision of my life began to formulate when I was 16 or 17. And for reasons counselors will be addressing for the rest of my life, the most influential vision for what success looks like was manufactured by me. I did this, however, prior to some of the most important decisions I have made (i.e before I met my wife or had even 1 of my 4 children). 17 year old Garret knew how life was supposed to look and he tells 34 year old Garret about it often. I have not mastered navigating the conversation between the voices in my past and my present. To use Chance’s analogy, the Peter Pan in me is trying to remind the aging Wendy Bird in me about the passions I had when I was devoid of #adulting. And the Wendy Bird in me is trying to convince my inner Peter Pan that the wisdom I have accumulated in the last 20 years is useful.
I think Elijah is experiencing something similar to this in 1 Kings 19. He is longing to hear from God’s Voice. It is the only voice that can help him navigate the complex conversation between his past and present which are, at the moment, hindering him from walking into God’s plan for Him. My mistake is often the same as Elijah’s. I want God to speak in a way that expect, but I would prefer God to speak in a way I can control. God, however, is too wild to be controlled. And I am better for it because the way God speaks is a continuous and wondrous surprise.
The question I am reflecting on today is this: how is God whispering to me right now? I know he is longing to help me navigate the passion of my past with the wisdom of my present. The scripture is showing us, that it is in that wilderness of conversation where God whispered to Elijah (and us) a way forward.
Mediation: Psalm 103:8-14
Choose a verse or two from the Psalm that sticks out to you. As you color today, have a conversation with the Lord about what He is saying to you through those verses. Feel free to post your progress. Tag Chance and include the #mycoloringbookforhisgreatness so we all can follow along.
*If there are typos please forgive me. I am often editing this on little sleep and I have notoriously bad grammar:)