Last Night and Next Weeks Group

Thanks to Becka for making the super sweet brownies last night, even though she couldn't make it to group herself. You guys rock! Also thanks to Brian for watching the kids and then coming in to share his music with us! Thank you! That was so great! And of course thanks to my husband for leading our group! That's hot. :)

Next week we'll meet at the Costello's house. Sarah will be on Childcare and Jeremy & Emily will be on the Sweet & Savory Snacks!

We really missed you guys who couldn't make it and had an awesome time last night. We talked about spending quiet time with God and just how critical that is to our spiritual life. We read from the verses in Matthew 4, where after Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, he is tempted by Satan to command that the stones becomes loaves of bread. Jesus responds "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

The funny thing is my first thought has always been "Geez, I wish it was that easy not to be hungry for food." It sounds ridiculous now that I say it outloud. I always wished it was possible to have those daily hunger alerts, stomach growling, and go "oh, okay, I'll read God's word instead"...and then be completely satisfied. But last night I thought of this differently. Instead of wanting to change my daily dependant relationship to food, what would it be like for me to want to change my relationship to God's words. To be that daily dependent on spending quiet time alone with my Lord? I mean, no matter how busy I am I make time for food. I just can't survive without it. Maybe a day or 2 is possible, but I would be wiped out afterwards and feeling desperately in need. I was really thinking about what it would be like to have those daily signals of "I'm hungry" for solitude with God and feeling literally starved for him when I don't get that.

To take the illustration a step further, after you don't eat for a couple days your body goes into a starvation mode and you literally start to loose your appetite. Your body's hunger pains fade and you can go without feeling that frantic need for food. You are still tired and depleted, nowhere from fully functioning, but your body just doesn't scream out for food anymore. Maybe a lot of us are in this starvation mode. We don't even realize our soul's hunger and ultimate desire for "every word that comes from the mouth of God" because we haven't been getting a steady diet of it.

My prayer for you and I is that we starve for this time alone with Jesus, being in his presence, listening to him speak to us, love us and fill us up with him. I pray that we know what things we need to subtract in our lives to make time for these daily meals with our Father. I pray that we would literally feel those hunger pains and be faint for our time alone with our Savior.