How To Thrive For 24 Hours

{Guest Devotional by Alison Lam}

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. 2 Corinthians 9:8 (TM)

photo credit: nicksarebi via photopin cc | Design: Wendy van Eyck

I’m a feeler and a thinker. 

I feel things deeply and intensely, and I am continually thinking about things (sometimes way too much). 

There’s always a dialogue going in my head, where I’m pondering things from the present day, things from the past or things that are around the corner in the future. 

It seems that my heart and mind are always awake, with just the occasional mental “nap” and reprieve. I’m pretty sure my brain keeps going even when I’m sleeping, because I’m quite an active dreamer.

I’ll also admit that I’m an “all-or-nothing” kind of person. 

This means that I’m a little dramatic. I’m one of those people that either jumps in fully with enthusiasm or I just seem to give up and get discouraged.

Growing up, the word my mother would have used to describe me was ‘intense’. 

I feel things intensely: intense joy and intense despair.

It can be gloriously beautiful to live with such an intensity and passion, but it can also get a little out of control! A little tiring! A little burdensome! While some others may live in a naturally carefree, relaxed, “chilled out” way, I have had to intentionally work at relaxing, resting and trusting. I don’t come by it honestly…

It’s my natural inclination to take on the entirety of my life (past, present and future) and get really overwhelmed by all the unresolved things in my life, coming to the conclusion that:

“I just can’t do this anymore!”

“I can’t bear to carry this one minute longer!” 

“If _______ doesn’t change, I’m going to go crazy!”  

“I won’t survive one more day of ______!” 

“I’m going to be ______ forever!”

I get tripped up over the idea that something will never change, and that somehow it is going to go on forever. (<-- tweet this) 

I make the emotional decision that I’m at my wits end, that the situation is impossible and that I am unable to carry it any longer. Not one minute longer.

A few years ago, God interrupted this unhelpful pattern of mine and asked me a question that rocked me. It was so simple, yet so life altering. He asked me,

“Alison, could you accept this for just 24 hours? Not a lifetime, but just for 24 hours?”

He continued to pose the question in another way, 

“Alison, could you thrive for just 24 hours?” 

God’s question stopped me in my tracks. 

I was cornered. 

But somehow, I sensed real hope and peace would arrive at my doorstep if I could embrace His words.

I answered,

“Why yes, God, I really could bear this for just 24 hours. Accept it, yes. And… I think I could even thrive in this for 24 hours!”

A heavy burden was lifted off of me. 

I realized that if I just looked at the next 24-hours ahead of me, I could bear a great many things that before had seemed impossible. 

Not only that, but I realized that I could even thrive and flourish if I just took the grace and power for just one 24-hour period of time.

Let’s call it “one day grace”. 

It’s the tangible power of God in our hearts that we are given for just one 24-hour period at a time. 

It’s the only way that God likes to pours out His grace. 

He gives His power to us for one day, and then the next day we trust that He will give us the grace for that new day.

Someone who lives a life that thrives and flourishes, really is just simply someone that wakes up each new morning and says, 

“Yes, I can thrive for just 24 hours!” (<-- tweet this)

So, today, will you open your heart and open your hands to receive the “one day grace” that God longs to give you right now? Say yes to thriving for just 24 hours!

{About Alison Lam: The Author Of This Guest Devotional}

My pretend title is Missionary. My real title is Child of God. I'm a combo deal. Serious and silly. Deep and dorky. East meets West. I'm a "plant-roots-at-home" girl and a "go-ye-into-all-the-world" girl. I love everything to do with the heart of God and the heart of humanity and the transformation that happens when the two connect. I believe that the heart thrives in vulnerable expression, so that is why I write online at: http://alisonlam.com and on Twitter: @alisonjoyful

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