MARCH/APRIL 2022

   We have finally made it to the month of March.  However, living in North Carolina, I learned not to get my hopes for warm weather too high due to the inconsistency in the weather patterns.  All in the same day, it may feel like it’s Springtime, and before you know it, the temperature may rise, and it feels like Summer; By the evening, it’s Fall-like, and when midnight arrives, it’s Winter.  That is just how it is in North Carolina.     

I am a warm-weather kind of guy.  If it’s 70 degrees every day, that is fine with me.  Though I’ve survived the Winter, I can do without it.       

As a young kid, my mother would dress my brother and me in thick winter coats before allowing us to go outside and play in the cold.  Underneath the coats, we wore sweaters, two t-shirts, thermals, and sometimes more t-shirts.  She wanted to ensure we would not get too cold while out playing.  We didn’t, and when it was time to come back inside, mom would peel our layers of clothing away, down to one shirt.  Our inner core body temperature remained warm beneath everything, and our wellbeing remained intact.  That experience reminds me of how God protects me for all seasons and situations.     

Through prayer, fasting, reading God’s word, and application, a layer of protection is placed over my life.  When I keep God at my core, He reveals Himself when the layers are peeled away.  These layers can be fear, shame, depression, guilt, or anything the enemy may try to use to discourage me into believing I am less than what God created me to be.      

I start each day with prayer and reading, and I seek God first; that is the first layer applied.  When my faith is tested throughout the day, I speak life into my situation and rest on God’s promise.  By doing this, another layer is applied, and I am warmed by what I expect to happen by faith.  Before my day ends, I can only thank God for His grace yet once again for keeping me.  

We must keep God at the core of who we are.