Multiply the Moments 6-14-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Before the day begins, it's good to come away with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I give to You my first thoughts, my first emotions, my first words. ... As I watch and wait for Your leading in the silence of surrender, it seems I hear You say, "Multiply the moments." I think of these moments with my children and family during our time away. Yes, Lord. Multiply the moments -- these moments together with one another, set apart from the intensity of our regular daily lives. Multiply the investment of love and time in these moments with my children. "Then Peter said, 'Look, we have left our homes and followed You.' And He said to them, 'Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life' " (Luke 18:28-30). These few weeks near the beginning of each summer have become some of the most important weeks of my life. These are the times when I "get back very much more in this age" some of what I seem to have lost "for the sake of the kingdom of God." As those who have known me in the journey of my life and those who have come to know me in the journey of my prayers have found, I share the pain and the joy of both a broken family and a blended family. After my first year of ministry in the transition of my worlds from lawyer to minister and from Texas to Kentucky, my first wife divorced me, despite all the counseling and prayers and offers to return to the our old world. My three older children from that first marriage -- Elizabeth, Zachary, and Madison -- are only able to be with me part of the time now. So this block of time when I bring them "back home" to see my family out here in Texas and New Mexico and to spend uninterrupted weeks rather than days and hours with them carries a significance far beyond a family vacation. These moments of talks and laughs, arguments and prayers -- these moments of real life together -- are worth their weight in gold. This year has been a little harder without my two youngest children -- Elijah and Josiah -- since it seemed a little too early to travel for my wife with our newborn son. But at the same time, it's allowed a little more focused time with my older children in a rare gift we seldom share. Somehow by the power of Your grace and Your love, You have brought us through and are bringing us through the journey of brokenness and healing, blending our old life into our new life -- our redeemed life. I have no idea how anyone could try to make it through this kind of journey without You and I'm so glad we have never had to try. Multiply the moments, Lord. Thank You for putting this prayer of Your will on my heart this morning. Do in these moments what might otherwise take months that we no longer have to give and to share with one another. Thank You for the gift of "very much more." In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's and cd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502. http://www.messiah-ministries.org Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com Come to The Fountain This Friday Night 6/16 -- the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel at Centenary United Methodist, 2800 Tates Creek Rd in Lexington.