Welcome Home.

Yesterday I was having a discussion with a friend about the Sabbath and I felt a conviction that I have not felt in quite a while.

It was actually refreshing. It was akin to hearing your mother chastise you for leaving your dirty clothes in the hallway.

Some of us actually wish we could hear our mothers chastise us like that again.

I thought God was done talking to me. He hadn't done it in so long. Then, suddenly, I feel this wave of...relief and joy and conviction -- the kind that makes you want to drop to your knees and say, "Thy will be done, Lord. I, your servant, am listening!" that I haven't felt in so long.

My friend asked me, "Are you preaching to me?", to which I answered, "Not since I figured out that that is what I was doing!"

I was in the process of explaining why I honored the Sabbath on Saturdays, even though - in my line of work - the busiest days are on the weekends. But, the conversation took a whole new turn. It was possibly something that both of us needed to hear.

I started talking about how God listens to those who obey Him, and takes care of them. I explained how God has always answered all of my prayers, even when the answer was "No", or "Not right now". Concerning something I had been praying for I told him, "I don't know if the answer is "No", or "Not right now." I just know that the answer is "No" right now, and I should act accordingly.

BAM. There is was. I realized I should listen to myself speak.

I went on to say, "And I am not perfect, and nor do I pretend to be so. I am still stumbling and learning. And what I know and what I do sometimes do not meet." I realized at that moment that I was starting to sound like Paul, when he was speaking in Romans Chapter 7. I finished with, "But I am not going to throw out all of it just because I am not perfect at all of it."

No. God wants me to keep trying. It is in trying that our true intentions of the heart are made manifest.

It was refreshing.

I heard God, at that point say, "Welcome home, Child."