A Fresh Start

Dear Lord; Happy Monday Father!  To start off with Lord, I want to thank You for yet another lovely weekend.  It was a hectic couple of days, but we were able to be productive and yet still have some fun in the process.  I went into Friday night still on a “God High” from the release You’d given me that morning, and it carried my spirit through much of the weekend.  My heart felt cleansed, and it very much let me recharge my batteries for the challenges that lie ahead.

Along with the concept of a “fresh start”, I spent quite some time this weekend working on reinventing the phatherphil.org web site as well.  It’s been quite a process in planning and implementing, but with Your Guidance (and a lot of help from Google) I’m quite happy with what we came up with.  It’s obviously still a work in progress, but It feels like a good start.  🙂

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your Presence and Guidance in my Life and for the Love You’ve shown myself and my family.  We are indeed Blessed and renewed each day by Your Grace.  Please let all those who yearn for meaning, for purpose and for understanding find Your Truth and be emboldened and encouraged.  Lead us through this week in Courage and in Strength so that we can see past our earthly worries and focus on Honoring Your Glory.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

A Wondrous Gift

Dear Lord; Happy Friday Father!  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!  What a powerful release Lord!  I truly feel like the floodgates on my heart have opened, and it’s an amazing sensation.  I can’t thank You enough for this, and I lift my Praises to You for this wonderful gift.

As there are others that read these conversations Father, let me explain.

The last couple of months have been filled with significant trials for me, my business and my family and although I’ve tried to maintain a positive outlook and listen for Your Voice, I’ve been very much eaten up with fear, worry and self-doubt.  These deep-seated demons have affected me severely enough that my health has suffered, and I’ve not been able to focus as closely as I should on ministering to those who count on me.  I didn’t lose Faith Lord, but I certainly felt beaten… until this morning.

I had just dropped off my boys to school, and was headed towards my office thinking about what new nightmares the day had in store for me, when You intervened.  In the middle of a thought, out of nowhere, I started crying uncontrollably.  The only way I can explain it is that my heart felt like a plug had just been pulled and all the pain, fears and worries burst from my chest.  It was a truly staggering feeling, and I’m still tearing up thinking about it.  You are indeed a Wondrous God!

I Accept Your Love, and Your Help, and Your Gift!

I lay my Burdens at Your Feet Lord!

Heavenly Father, I can’t thank You enough for this release and for staying close to me through my trials.  I know I am Blessed, and Loved and I feel Your Peace.  May all those in similar turmoil receive Your Presence as I was Graced to this morning.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Tomorrow will worry about itself.

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  I want to start today by thanking You for being such a good listener.  I feel like I’ve been talking Your Ears off the last day or so, and while my heart is still troubled by earthly worries, laying them out to You does worlds of good for my sense of Hope.  I keep hearing You telling me to let go and find rest in Your Love, and I’m trying to Lord… but these fears have a true grip on me at the moment.

Searching for focus in You today, I found some comfort in verses from the Book of Matthew :

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” – Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)

Verse 27 really grabbed me Father.  “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Wow… I guess I need to take a step back and Accept that.  (Ok… There’s that word again.  I get it.) Then a little further on in the chapter, Verse 34 says :

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Such a simple truth, and yet I somehow haven’t been able to see it through my inner clouding.  I have my focus now Father.

Thank You for leading me to Matthew today Lord, and for staying by my side through these trials.  Only in Your Loving Hands can my heavy heart be whole.  Amen.

~Phather Phil

Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Well Lord, I didn’t exactly start the day on a stellar note.  As You well know, Shannon and I very seldom have any significant arguments.  We’re very much on-keel with each other, and any little disagreements we do have now and again are usually quickly and calmly worked out.

That wasn’t the case today however.

A simple misreading of a reaction to something I said led to tempers flaring on both sides, and a twenty minute excited exchange… Over basically nothing.

Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. – 2 Timothy 2:23-24

Ouch!  Yep, that pretty much describes our fight… foolish and stupid.  I stand convicted Lord, and am deeply ashamed.  Instead of listening for Your Guidance in that moment, I allowed my temper to shut myself off from You and caused unnecessary pain to someone I love deeply.

Heavenly Father, please help me focus my heart and mind on Your Voice in times of stress.  Help me not be quick to anger, and instead bring a level head and calm influence to situations that arise.

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. – James 1:19-20

Amen.

~Phather Phil

And My Focus Word is…

Dear Lord; Good morning Father.  Today Lord, I want to follow up on a discussion we had earlier this week where we talked about finding my “One Word Focus” for this year.  You and I have been “chatting” a lot about this over the last few days, and my mind’s been flooded with so many words describing parts of myself that I know could use work.  Throughout all those deliberations and prayers however, I keep hearing one word in the midst of it all :

Accept.

Ok, message received… “Accept” it is.  I’ll admit, it’s not quite along the lines of what I had originally conceived when I started down this path but I’ll Accept Your Guidance :-).

So this morning, I started contemplating what the word Accept means in relation to my life, and the more I thought about it the bigger the scope grew.  There are so many things that I currently Accept (and possibly shouldn’t), and so many more that I need to work on.  For example, as we discussed yesterday I need to work on the fact that my nature is to try and fix everyone’s problems, when obviously that’s not a realistic perspective.

I need to Accept that I’m not in control and that I can’t fix everything.

Wow… So, I’m starting to understand why you put this word in my heart Lord.  I guess there are more things in my life that I haven’t fully Accepted than I had originally thought.  This is a truly powerful word, and I thank You for seeding me with it.

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for instilling this focus in my heart and mind.  As I contemplate and pray about this direction over the coming year, please lead me to recognize and Accept all Your Truths and proceed with them in Your Love.  Amen.

~Phather Phil