Today’s Reading: <\/strong>Psalms 45-47<\/p>\n Scripture: Psalms 46:1<\/strong><\/p>\n God is our refuge and strength,<\/p>\n an ever-present help in trouble.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Observation: <\/strong>True strength and comfort come from the true God. And He’s always there for us.<\/p>\n Application: <\/strong>Two weeks ago my study group decided to honor the National Day of prayer by spending more of our meeting time in prayer than we normally do.<\/p>\n I brought a spiral notebook and a stack of emails, blog comments and my own notes and flipped through the requests, journaling and praying about each and every one for about an hour. And then I prayed throughout the day here and there for many of those requests again, as well as any other requests that came to me.<\/p>\n The next week, after dropping my kids to school, I headed straight for my church’s prayer room, equipped with a few more requests, my to-do list, Bible and a spiral notebook. I prayed over my reading, all those requests and asked for wisdom in prioritizing and adjusting my to-do list. I marveled at how wonderful I felt and what a difference it made to pray outside of my house, undistracted by laundry, emails, and so many other tasks calling out to me.<\/p>\n I launched into my day after that much more clear-headed than I had been in a very long time. When I was hit with a bunch of garbage later that day I felt much better-equipped.<\/p>\n Do I have a packed schedule and feel like every second counts and like I have too many to-dos than I can manage? Yes! <\/strong>Did the thought of sitting still and just praying, not really accomplishing <\/em>anything, seem a bit indulgent to me? Yes.<\/strong><\/p>\n But did that time turn into being the most important thing I did that day and possibly that week? I would say a resounding YES! <\/strong>And I would say I did accomplish quite a lot.<\/p>\n He heard my cries and became my refuge. He listened to my concerns and gave me strength. He was there and He got me ready for what was to come.<\/p>\n And so today I’ll be heading back for another session of prayer out of my house, where I can just focus on Him and present my requests and then really, really listen.<\/p>\n If there is any way you can find a way to do this, I would strongly recommend it. How will I do this once school is out? I haven’t quite figured it out. But I will today. Because I bet God will tell me when I meet with him in a few hours.<\/p>\n Prayer: <\/strong>Lord, thank you for being my strength and my refuge and giving me what I need. Thank you for calling our prayer meetings and enabling me to hear that invitation and respond. I’m looking forward to our undistracted time together in just a bit. See ya then :) Please guide others in taking this time, as well. What a difference that would make!<\/p>\n Tomorrows Reading: <\/strong>Psalms 48-50<\/p>\n For the entire Psalms in 60 Days reading schedule, visit Ruth in the Desert.<\/a> I\u2019ve printed her schedule and am using it as a bookmark in my Bible as we read together. Feel free to jump in and join us today!<\/p>\n Wondering what SOAP is? I’d love to explain<\/a>…<\/p>\n