Fill In the Blanks

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I am finding life to be rather difficult . . . but I am also finding it difficult to articulate what I have even been struggling with, but I learned this week that much of my struggle is a lack of focus--I am not spending enough time in dedicated, intentional prayer. Maybe you've been there--snippets here, a short prayer there, until really you are reading, studying, and it is absolutely uninhabited by the power of the Spirit living inside you because you've quit communicating. I was very intentional last week with my prayer life, and I found (no big surprise) that God is still there. The realization that the communication wasn't two-way was humbling, as it always is when I realize I am at an impasse. I keep thinking that I will quit having the same problem over and over again, but alas, the flesh I am in keeps struggling against the Spirit within me. 

So . . . life is sometimes frustrating, debilitating, full of sorrow, tiring, disappointing, anxiety-laden, full of unexpected sorrows and griefs, upsetting, _____________, ____________,  . . . basically, you can fill in the blanks with your adjectives at any given point in life, BUT God is still God. He is still sovereign. He is still on His throne regardless of the circumstances of life, so I am choosing to rejoice. One more thing though --could you remind me if I start whining again, and ask me if I am communicating with Him? I would really appreciate it! And if I don't, I still need to hear it!

Philippians 4:13-14 
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

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