A Bad Day

Have you ever had a day when everything seems to conspire against you?

Well today's been one of those days for me. From the moment I got out of bed, everything just seemed to not go a smoothly as it could or should have. Here's just a few of today's "issues":

• before I started getting washed I dropped my towel in the bath...when the bath had water in it
• a button fell off my blouse - though fortunately that was before I left the house!
• kicked over the cat's water bowl and got water everywhere
  left the house to go to work, got to my car, no car key, so had to go back into house to get my car key

So that's just some of the things that happened before I go to work today. As for my day at work, it wasn't much better.

What really made my day really bad was the fact that I wasn't feeling very good either - I really just wanted away from work so I could find a nice wee quiet corner where I could curl up and release all the emotions that seemed to have built up inside me.

What kind of day have you had? I hope it's been better than mine!

Either way, how did you get through your day?

When you woke up this morning, did you pray that God would be with you in everything you did today? I did.

When things started going wrong for you, did you pray for God's guidance to see you through? I did.

When you felt the day couldn't get any worse and you felt at your lowest, did you pray that God would give you the strength to carry on? I did.

Just because we pray to God to help us, doesn't mean we'll never face any difficult day. It just means that if we put ourselves in God's hands during those difficult times, He will be by our side guiding us through those difficult times.

Be strong. Let God be your strength.

1 Chronicles 16:11 - Look to the Lord and his strength

DIY

DIY - What do you immediately think of when you see this acronym? As you all know it stands for Do It Yourself, but how many of you like doing DIY?

Well for us the majority of the DIY work is left to me, but I don't mind as I actually quite enjoy dabling with DIY though I am certainly not up for doing all DIY tasks, as I leave the complicated stuff to the professionals!

How many of you have self improvement guides for one task or another in your house? These days there are hundreds, probably thousands of self help guides available in our bookshops, from self-help to how to lay a carpet!

All that DIY talk aside, what is the one thing God directs us to do ourselves? Pray

So you've got self improvement books for DIY, and self-help guides, what about for your prayer life? The best book you can use to improve your prayer life is the Bible - God directs us in there many time, how and why he wants us to pray. In 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, God said:

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.

God promises to hear every prayer we utter. He will answer every prayer, though not necessarily in the way we would have wanted, but in the way he knows is best for us.

We must not get caught up in ourselves but instead remember that the only self help we need is from God, he alone can do all things. God can help us do so much more than we could ever do on our own.

Caught Up In Yourself (by Third Day)
Take a good look around you
And I’m sure that you are bound to
Think that all you have comes down to
You and what you’ve done
If you look far beyond this
There’s a life I hope you don’t miss
What has kept you from moving on
Is learning to let go

And there’s so much more
Than what you’re looking for

Caught up in yourself
Call it like it is
Well, you’re so good
But you’ll never be good enough

You think if you surrender
It’s the end, but just remember
Life is more than dying embers
Burning in your soul

And I know it’s true‘
Cause I am just like you

Thank God for mercy
Thank God for His grace
Thank God for everything you’ve got
Before it’s too late

And there’s so much more
Than what you’re looking for