Hey Warriors its Melissa here,

I hope you are all doing well! Lawrence and I have had two great weeks of RWL meetings with some great men and women. Things here are great.

In today’s post I want to talk a bit about a piece of a book that had a really big impact on me. Yes I know Lawrence wrote on a book last week. We have both been doing a lot of reading lately.

I just finished reading this book called The Shack. It is a fictional story about God showing up as what we need him to be so that we are the most receptive to him. I am not going to go into great detail about the book but I will tell you it is an amazing read and it has made me see God in a completely different light and has really changed my perception of him and how he works.

What I do want to talk about today though is something that really made me think. In the book, the characters talk about making God a priority in our lives. That is how I always thought God wanted it. He wanted us to make Him our top priority. After reading the book, I have a different opinion of that now. Later I will tell you what this means for your marriage and family.

During the conversation in the book the main character Mack is talking to God about how God should be the priority in our lives. God’s reply to Mack was not what I expected. He told Mack that He wants to be more than a priority. If we put God on a list and put Him as #1, that’s all fine and great but then God asked what that would look like.

God does not want to just be on a list of things to check off everyday. That would mean we would spend our time with Him and then forget about Him the rest of the day. He is not something we just check off like any other task we are trying to accomplish. God wants more than that and He deserves more than that.

The other thing is that if He is made a priority on a list, then how much time does that require? How much is to much or not enough? God does not want to be looked at in that way. He does not want to be a stress or a burden.

So what does God really want? In the book, God told Mack He wants to be the center of everything in our day, not just a priority. He wants us to bring Him into everything we do, not just an hour or two every day. Spending time with Him is not supposed to be stressful, but peaceful. Time spent with Him is to build our relationship with Him, not put strain on it because we are trying to meet our own expectations of what we think needs to be done.

That thought right there blew my mind and dropped all the pressure I was putting on myself as I was trying to meet these huge expectations I was putting on myself. This whole idea took all the stress out of me trying to have the relationship I want with God. It is one less thing to make me feel like a failure. Who doesn’t need that in their life?

God wants to be with us 24/7 with no expectations. He is asking that we bring Him into every aspect of our day. That is something I can completely do. I pray off and on all day long for several different things. I keep Him with me know matter what I am doing.

What does that mean for my marriage? He can be the center of that too. I am taking Him everywhere so that means He is a big part of my marriage. Same with my kids. It has opened me up to talking to my kids about praying through things. Helping them understand how to make God the center of their life too. Families are stronger when God is at the center of it. Teaching my kids to be able to have a relationship with God that is not stressful is really important.

This also means that God wants to be at the center of our PTSD and depression. How AMAZING is that!! He does not want us walking through those horrible things along. That means we are NEVER alone even if we feel like we are. For me, that is a very comforting thought. It means that I can always lean on and rely on Him even when my depression and grief are at their worst.

I highly recommend the book “The Shack”. It was a life changing read for me and one of those books that I will read over and over. I never want to forget to put God at the center of my life and make Him a part of everything I do. It is amazing how much stress I was able to drop after taking all the pressure and expectations off of myself trying to force a relationship and time with God. I hope this helps you in your walk with God too.

Please Like, Share, Comment, and Subscribe! Also find us on Instagram and Facebook.

Proverbs 3:6 NLT ⁶ Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Melissa McGuire (Relentless)