God Help Me! My Routine Went AWOL!

Routine: sequence of actions regularly followed; a fixed program, practice, pattern, regimen, plan, habits, schedule

My routine, first thing each morning, is to send a text message to my children, and my sister-in-law. Just a few love words to let them know that I was thinking about them and praying for them. My next morning routine is to go to my office and tap the SEND icon on my Facebook post and PUBLISH on my blog post. Then I quickly scan some of my friends’ activity on FB. Yesterday, I was shocked to see that my wonderful Tulsa dentist, Dr. Mark Tiernan, had passed away. Dr. Mark was a dear friend, amazing and fearless man of integrity and honor, missionary to nations to give his love away while providing his dental skills to those in need and precious man of God. Heaven just got sweeter.

My next routine is to make my way to the fitness center. I sat down at the stationary bike, inserted my ear plugs and turned on the TV. I should have avoided the news, the bickering and the sensational soundbites. I saw Mark Zuckerburg (Facebook’s creator) giving testimony to Congress about the data breaches that have made global headlines in recent weeks. I hope Congress and Mark can figure it all out and get their ROUTINES fixed, because whatever was wrong, FB is my mission field.

It doesn’t take long to deal with my own emotions, hear personal news from family and friends, along with the daily news, that the weight of the world invades my mind. I returned home from my work out and I was bombarded with those weights – not from the gym, but the world. I began to do the ugly cry – for my friends, my family, my world AND ME! I was having one of THOSE mornings. My upbeat, joy-filled, press-on, unwavering, tenacious attitude AND ROUTINE was interrupted with a wave of doubt, unbelief and concern. I was drenched in a puddle of self-pity.

I rushed to my journal, another routine, and I began to write: “My feelings hurt! I’m too sensitive. I’m too fleshly. I’m weary. I feel so weak. Restore my soul, oh Lord. Renew a right spirit within me. Lord, PLEASE HELP ME!” I quickly went to another of my morning routines, my Bible and my devotional booklet. Up popped these scriptures from Psalm 34, and, soon, all was well.
~ “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall ever be in my mouth.”
~ “I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”
~ “Look to Him that you may be radiant with joy and your faces may not blush with shame.”
~ “Taste and see how good the Lord is; blessed the man who takes refuge in Him.”

Thanks be to God. I could breathe again. I’m so thankful that the Bible goes to great lengths to show us that all the people on its pages were ordinary and average, doing one little thing after another, rooted in trust, grounded in good news, and drenched in fear or hopelessness. Even people like Moses, Noah, Abraham and Sarah had their weaknesses and made their missteps. The only one who rose above it all was Jesus. As for the rest of the people in all the stories of the Bible, God filled them up with His Holy Spirit and breathed life into their ROUTINES, their dreams and their plans, and God, through ordinary people who did ordinary things, made miracles happen that changed the world for good.

Maybe today, your ROUTINE is out of whack. You also long for the “all is well” state of being. Take heart, my friends. All IS well. We just need to keep breathing….deeply. We do our part. We fight the good fight. We keep looking up. We can count on God’s ROUTINE…He is ALWAYS faithful.