Yesterday began the 40 days of Lent. It isn\u2019t just a season; it\u2019s a journey — a deliberate walk into the desert, not to suffer, but to be refined. It\u2019s a time to come clean, inside and out, setting aside distractions to hear God more clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On purpose for my mind, heart, soul AND body well being, I need this time with God to work on me — ALL OF ME. To put it bluntly — I’ve been eating like there is no tomorrow — my bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, sometimes I’ve been grumpy with an attitude that sure needs refinement. I’ve even said, \u201cI\u2019ll get back on track when Lent starts.\u201d But Paul\u2019s words challenge me: \u201cI discipline my body and make it my slave\u2026\u201d (1 Corinthians 9:27).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I\u2019m choosing discipline — strengthening my body, embracing better habits, and letting go of what clutters my soul. But Lent isn\u2019t just about saying no — it\u2019s about saying yes to renewal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David\u2019s prayer speaks my heart: \u201cCreate in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.\u201d (Psalm 51:10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I had my way, Lent would be smooth — no struggles, no hunger, no deserts. But Jesus didn\u2019t avoid the desert; He walked into it. For forty days, He fasted, battled the enemy, and emerged ready for His ministry. That\u2019s the purpose of the desert — not to break us but to strengthen us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s tempting to think struggles mean we\u2019re failing. But what if they mean we\u2019re walking with Jesus? The desert wasn\u2019t His punishment — it was His preparation. And ours can be too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, Lord, take me into the desert — not to leave me there, but to meet me there. Strip away what doesn\u2019t matter and draw me closer to what does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s how I hope to come out of this Lenten season — empowered to love greater, being a stronger, devoted follower of Christ, and shining brighter with His bright light. Won’t you join me in the desert?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Yesterday began the 40 days of Lent. It isn\u2019t just a season; it\u2019s a journey — a deliberate walk into the desert, not to suffer, but to be refined. It\u2019s a time to come clean, inside and out, setting aside distractions to hear God more clearly. On purpose for my mind, heart, soul AND body…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16679,3272,1210,1769,3717,31390,12916,6187,1392,40,1812,3718,6346,2499,31391,3917,12217],"class_list":["post-21731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-1-corinthians-927","tag-40-days","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-come-clean","tag-create-a-clean-heart","tag-desert","tag-discipline","tag-facebook","tag-inspiration","tag-journey","tag-lent","tag-lenten-season","tag-psalm-5110","tag-renew-right-spirit","tag-renewal","tag-struggle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21733,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21731\/revisions\/21733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}