Return to the Lord

Return to the Lord

One weekend, I heard a visiting pastor speak on healing. I got excited about drawing closer to God by studying his Word.  I wrote down every Bible reference, looked them up, and meditated on them, starting with Romans 10.17: “Faith comes from hearing the Word of God and believing what it says.”
I took that to heart, and read a few verses out loud, every day. When I took the time to read through verse, passage and chapter for comprehension, that verse became lodged in my heart.  A new, unfamiliar feeling pervaded my senses. I couldn’t put a name to it at first, but…I was fed.  I felt satisfied, sustained and made whole by the Bread of Life.  (John 6.35)
But then, real life intervened.  One night I was just too tired; another night, I plain forgot.  That lovely new sense of completion slipped away, and Satan rejoiced as I regressed into reading secular material at bedtime.  I needed to relax. Reading the Bible was too much work.
God smiled. In a quiet moment, like a faint breeze, came the sense of fulfillment I’d missed and longed for.  And, like Hosea, I came back.  (Hos. 14.3)