Recently when I was spending time with God, I asked Him, “Lord, what do You want me to know today?” As I sat and listened, these are the words that came to my heart:

I want you to stop striving and let me guide your day, your to-dos, your goals, your life. I have the power and authority to do all of that in a day if I want. 

I want you to lay down your life for Me, Lesley.  

Seek Me all day. Don’t let busyness distract you from My voice. 

I am in control of it all so look at Me; not at your computer, not at your to-do list.

I am where your focus needs to be. You have much you want to accomplish but take more time to be with Me. 

Be more Mary and less Martha.

Love Me well and intentionally Lesley.

Dig your roots deep in Me, entrust your day to Me. It’s where true fulfillment is. It’s where life gets exciting! Trust Me and let Me guide you today.

So you know what I did? 

I decided to put aside my list of to-dos that I had created for my work day. Instead, I listened to a podcast on renewing my mind in Him. 

I wanted to get out of the habit of just getting busy accomplishing my work tasks. I wanted to be intentional about listening for God.

I came back and didn’t jump right into work. I pondered what I’d read and heard. I reached out to a friend and shared some encouragement from the Lord. I had no idea how much it would impact him.

But I didn’t stop there. I reached out to another friend with some encouragement. And then another friend.

I didn’t get to my work day until after lunch, but I felt so overjoyed and fulfilled with the assignments God had given me. I knew He would show me what needed to be done with the rest of my day and what didn’t. 

Being a Good Son or Daughter

It reminded me of something I had read in the book, Rooted by Banning Liebscher. He was praying about being a good pastor and begging God to not let his sermon be bad. 

God’s response to him was, “Banning you have a choice. You can either be a preacher or you can be a son. If you decide to be a preacher, you’ll be good sometimes and at other times you won’t be that good. But if you decide to be a son, you’ll be great all the time, because you are a fantastic son.”

Banning went on to say, “Everything changed for me in that moment. I said, ‘God, I want to be a son. I don’t want to be anything else. I don’t want to be a preacher. I want to be a son. From that point on, something shifted for me. I was motivated by something different.’” 

Wow! Yes, that has shifted my focus as well. I don’t want to be an anything more than I want to be an amazing daughter of the King!

This is what pleases the heart of God.