Pray While You’re Prey Devotion, Part IVSample

Adjustments

Quote from Pray While You’re Prey:

“Convert your passion for being [married] into a passion for a stronger relationship with Christ, and you cannot go wrong.”

One summer, at the end of the school year, I treated myself to a massage. The massage therapist was going through her checklist of questions and asked me about back pain. I told her that I had been experiencing a lot of back pain for several months. She did her best with my massage and I felt a great deal of relief and relaxation, but she recommended that I see a chiropractor because she said something did not feel right.

I followed the advice of my massage therapist and made an appointment at the chiropractor. He showed me that I had been compensating for a genetic ailment and it resulted in several bones being out of alignment. Nearly every health problem that I had that year, including back pain, knee pain and headaches, could be traced to my spine being out of alignment. The doctor recommended physical therapy.

It occurred to me recently that this episode with my back was not unlike how I approached my singleness. When I was first divorced, I compensated for being single by going out with people I had no business dating, but after a while, I cleaned that part of my life up and started building my relationship with God. So I forgot that I had a propensity toward making bad relationship choices when I entered into my next relationship. Getting over that breakup was more miserable than any other breakup.

I became extremely negative about the prospect of having a successful relationship or even marriage. Some people made comments about my singleness, but no one is a harsher critic of me than me. I would say that I want to be in a relationship, but, if I am truthful, I did not really believe it would happen. I thought I was too damaged, too undeserving to be loved. Then, it occurred to me that I needed to make some adjustments. I needed to adjust my spiritual walk and find satisfaction in Christ Jesus. And I needed to adjust my thought life; I needed to stop doubting that God could send me the exact person for whom I have been waiting.

Just like the chiropractic adjustments, I need to make a blatant effort to make these adjustments daily until they become a natural part of my routine. Then, as they become more natural, I may only have to make an adjustment every once in a while when I am really in pain and I need more than what comes naturally. The point is that we have to make a choice each day to be positive and full of faith. God has proven that He is faithful and able. We must adjust our thoughts and believe.

Prayer

Thank You, God, for helping me make adjustments to my spiritual walk and thought life.

Please forgive me for being overtly and subconsciously negative about what you can do in my life.

Lord, please help me to stay positive and help my unbelief.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen