The Practice of the Presence of God. 2

Well, I’m trying to read The Practice of the Presence of God. I’ve endeavored to take notes as I often do with a lot of books. But, I’ll confess that I’m having a hard time with it…maybe I’m going through a few things which I’m struggling with but I’m finding it hard to practice the presence of God each day, all day, especially the hard times.

Nevertheless, I said I’d put my notes here and so I will…but you have been forewarned. I’ve had a week where I felt I didn’t cope very well. Everything seemed to go wrong: the car broke down a few times; once on the way to a paediatrician’s appointment and another time on the way to art class. Of course, we weren’t helped by the fact that we left a little late because for some unknown reason our clothes dryer decided to go on strike and stop working, leaving ‘Miss R’ with no jumper until it dried over the heater. At least the dryer is now employed again and has resumed its usual service. However, even having the car for the day is no easy feat! My 12yodd lost my identification pass so that I now can’t take John into work without stopping at the gates, filling in forms and getting a pass. This all seems ridiculous seeing that we only live a few minutes away but it’s cold and my hubby ain’t gettin’ any younger.

I also struggle with shopping week. It just seems to stressful. I go to one town to pay laybye’s and shop for clothes and all my bulk foods like seeds, nuts, grains, and flours. I’ve been having some trouble with paypal that has caused me some angst. It seems that some overseas sellers will not accept credit card payment through paypal yet there is no way that I can transfer funds from my account into my paypal account! After weeks of trying, and having a mutual agreement with a seller to pull out of one sale, I finally figured a way round this, but not without the help of a friend! This takes care of Thursday.

Friday is the day when we go to the closer town and do shopping for various things like stationary, or the Post Office, thrift store shopping, Christian book store and other bookstores and then we go to Coles or Woolworths to do our usual grocery shopping before we head to the butchers and the green grocer. On the way home, we fill the car up with fuel and then one of the children will ALWAYS ask me what is for tea that night!!! Can you believe that we’ve been shopping, the car is full of groceries and food yet I have no idea what we can eat that night? How or why is this so?

All this just tops off a week where I feel like I’m not getting any time or lessons with the children. We have so many interruptions! We live with the consequences of our previous actions and sometimes it is draining, so very draining. I REALLY want to feel the presence of God…to practice the presence of God but I start to get cynical about this book. You know, I’m sure I’m not the only one who says things like this…

“Yeah well, I bet he didn’t have to live with a car that breaks down regularly while trying to get a child to the doctor and have to rush back home again to feed seven people and worry about whether or not the children can read and write…” that sort of cynicism. I’m in danger of losing the spirit of the message so I might put it away for a few days and just spend some time in God’s Word until I feel ready to tackle it again. It’s strange but the Word never makes me feel like that- in fact, I often relate to the walk of the Israelites and I see the character and nature of God throughout their story- yet I don’t feel cynical or condemned.

So, for now I’m putting ‘The Practice’ aside while I just go to God’s Word. I’ll just post recipes instead.