{"id":7,"date":"2008-01-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-13T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/2008\/01\/13\/distracted-yet-delighted\/"},"modified":"2009-09-15T14:53:27","modified_gmt":"2009-09-15T18:53:27","slug":"distracted-yet-delighted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/2008\/01\/13\/distracted-yet-delighted\/","title":{"rendered":"Distracted, Yet Delighted"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Has your life ever been so full that special moments with God seem too few and far between?\u00a0 My life is full and many times I have felt this way.\u00a0 Here is how God has been graciously encouraging me.<\/p>\n

I can really relate to what Paul talks about in I Corinthians 7:34 & 35 when he said that we would be distracted or have divided interests\u00a0as a result of\u00a0marriage (and parenting)!\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade this part of my life for anything!\u00a0 These have been some of my happiest years, but after being single for 32 years and having had plenty of undistracted time with the Lord, these last five years of marriage and being a mom of three small children has proven to be lacking in structured, consistent time with God.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through these very busy five years though, He has reminded me of His\u00a0grace and\u00a0that, most important to\u00a0Him, is\u00a0 my heart.\u00a0 He knows my longing for those consistent times of clarity and focus to concentrate more on Him.\u00a0\u00a0I know those times\u00a0WILL come again and I am experiencing glimpses of it already as my children grow and become less dependant (and as my energy level increases!)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tonight was one of those precious times\u00a0as I had put the\u00a0kids to bed and settled\u00a0down in our recliner with my bible and\u00a0good worship music on in the background.\u00a0 Benjamin was gone at\u00a0our church small group and I was home with the kids who are recovering from a two and a half week bout of various sickness’ (we have been feeling a bit ‘cooped up”!).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I recently decided to start reading from the beginning in Genesis again and slowly but surely, I am almost to the end of the book.\u00a0 I was amazed once again as I read tonight about the story of Joseph and how God turned his troubled life into good not only for himself, but\u00a0eventually for his family, the country of Egypt and the surrounding countries at that time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

God in\u00a0his sovereignty knew exactly what He was doing with Joseph’s life (and everyone elses) from the beginning of time.\u00a0 He was also preserving His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through Joseph’s life and prosperity.\u00a0 And Joseph kept giving the credit to God.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u00a0was just thinking how good God is and how faithful and true to His word He is.\u00a0 He will accomplish that what He has promised to the nation of Isael and to us, His church, today.\u00a0 He has a plan for us as believers and the body of Christ and it is because of Christ that we are able to be part of this plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am just feeling very thankful for\u00a0His grace and love for me personally tonight…..that He could love me this much.\u00a0 I was listening to a song by Michael W. Smith that always moves me.\u00a0 Here are the words:<\/p>\n

COME SEE<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Come see
\nCome see with spirit eyes
\nCome see
\nThe door is open
\nCome near
\nCome weary and ashamed
\nCome near
\nHis arms are open
\nHis arms are open <\/span><\/p>\n

Come live
\nCome live in freedom here
\nCome live
\nThe chains are broken
\nCome rest
\nCome take his gift of grace
\nCome rest
\nThe word is spoken
\nThe word is spoken <\/span><\/p>\n

Come see
\nCome see with spirit eyes
\nCome see
\nThe door is open
\nCome home
\nCome lay your burdens down
\nCome home
\nHis arms are open
\nHis arms are open
\nHis arms are open <\/span><\/p>\n

The chains are broken
\nThe chains are broken
\nHis arms are open
\nHis arms are open
\nYeah!
\nOh!
\nHis arms are open
\nYeah yeah yeah
\nThe world is broken
\nHis arms are open
\nOh yeah\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That speaks to me!\u00a0 An invitation to the world and to us….the weary and ashamed….come see with Spirit eyes….come near….come\u00a0LIVE\u00a0IN FREEDOM, the chains are broken….come rest and\u00a0TAKE His gift of grace, the word is spoken…..come home….come lay your burdens down because\u00a0His arms are OPEN!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Great truths!\u00a0 Truths that we take for granted sometimes or forget about in our moment by moment days because we get distracted.\u00a0 How much\u00a0He loves us!\u00a0 I hope that you are encouraged too!<\/p>\n

~Missy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Has your life ever been so full that special moments with God seem too few and far between? My life is full and many times I have felt this way. Here is how God has been graciously encouraging me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1054],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-the-very-latest-news","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/benjamin-hatton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}