Jesus Java
Not a Morning Person
Y’all, I’m just not a morning girl and, to hear my Mother tell it, I never was. I don’t know why some people wake up early in the morning fired up and ready to go. I’ve even tried coffee. So many people love it — why, I have a friend whose husband built her a coffee bar in her home with all the high end equipment you’d see at your favorite coffee bistro! So I thought surely she and all the other coffee lovers out there must know something I don’t. But not even coffee gets me up and motivated in the morning.
Then I looked at my husband. He is absolutely a morning person. For 25 years I’ve watched him get up singing, praising, smiling, and out the door by 3:30 am (yup, I said am, as in, it’s still dark out) to be at the gym to teach his 4 am class. Now, to me, that’s crazy on so many levels ‘cause, one, I’m like, “Bryan, who are all these people joining you at the gym at 4 am?” His answer: “Tons of folks.” Typically his 5:15 am class was usually sold out Monday-Friday! Then, secondly, that’s crazy to me because I just don’t like working out in the first place! My joke is that it’s against my religion, and before you start losing your head, I know of no such religion, I just don’t like to work out, but that’s a story for another day!
Waking Up Thankful
Anyway, this past year my husband has been very ill, yet he still gets up around the same time. Which, again, seemed crazy to me because, in honesty, the only time he’s had relief from this illness has been when he’s sleeping. So I asked, “Why in the world are you still getting up that early?” His response was one I had to share. He said he gets up every morning fully rested and so excited about what God has for him that day he can’t imagine sleeping in. Despite his illness, my husband still gets up with a spirit of thanksgiving and expectancy that God will do what He said He will do!
I don’t know about you, but I honestly don’t always wake up with a positive attitude. I like to pull the covers up and hit snooze at least twice. Why? Well, because in bed I feel warm and safe from the world. In bed, in the early morning hours, all is well with the world — at least that was how I felt until I had a conversation with God. After talking to Bryan and watching him rise every morning asking God to use him today in even a small way, I felt convicted to begin to do the same. How could I watch my husband’s unwavering faith grow stronger through a debilitating illness and allow mine to remain stagnant?
A New Wake-Up Call
So, during my prayers each night before I laid my head down, I would ask God, “If it be Your will, if You choose to wake me up tomorrow morning, let me rise from bed for Your glory Lord!” And so my 4 am rising began! Yup, 4 am! I don’t set a clock for 4 am — as a matter of fact, I set my clock for whatever time I need to finish my devotional, shower, and dress to get to work on time. My 4 am wake-up call comes from God. Anyone who knows me knows I typically post on social media between 4 and 5 am. Not those “Hey, look at my new hairstyle” posts or the “Here’s some pics of our Grand,” but my first morning posts are always on the pages and platforms God has called me to use in order to encourage my Christian Sisters or Christian Married Couples. That’s how God began to stir up this very blog and future book!
When I finally pushed aside all the reasons I’d manufactured to talk myself out of the very thing God stirred in me so many years ago…
When I actually started giving my day to the Lord before doing anything else…
That’s when I started getting excited again about my life. I started getting excited about what God has planned, not just for the day but, for my life! It was in those still morning hours when the world lay silent that He began to stoke the fire of those gifts in me. I began trusting God with my gifts (the ones HE placed in me) and asking Him how He wants me to use them. So now when I lay my head down to sleep I do so asking God to wake me up each morning when He is ready to use me for HIS glory and, if He chooses to do that, I will meet Him with a spirit of thanksgiving and expectancy, excited and ready to start the day!
When God whispers overs me and calls me to rise each day, I find Him right there waiting for me. That, my Sisters, is a reason to be excited about the day ahead!
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