{"id":784,"date":"2012-04-27T21:43:59","date_gmt":"2012-04-28T01:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etheriedge.wordpress.com\/?p=784"},"modified":"2020-10-05T19:08:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T23:08:16","slug":"easier-than-i-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/27\/easier-than-i-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Easier Than I Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I was a child, we attended a church with a lot of ceremony and repetition. I memorized so many prayers and hymns that were used to communicate with God. Then I discovered Jesus was a <em>personal <\/em>Savior, and I could pray straight from my heart, in my own words&#8230; even singing praises I made up.<\/p>\n<p>The longer I&#8217;ve walked with Jesus the more I&#8217;ve realized it&#8217;s actually easier than I thought. The whole relationship thing. I don&#8217;t have to be frantic or hard-pressed. Just set aside some time for the two of us. No timer or list to follow. He&#8217;s flexible. He knows I have a lot to do. I focus on enjoying Him, and He gives me\u00a0what I so desperately need- simple\u00a0<em>quiet time<\/em>\u00a0together.<\/p>\n<p>More and more, I can sense His presence during life&#8217;s chaos. He&#8217;s there. Measured and steady, available no matter what whirls about me. I&#8217;ve learned, with each dire circumstance: to breathe slowly and focus on being aware of His sovereignty. It takes effort! It takes practice.<\/p>\n<p>Over time my reactions have changed. Those brief seconds before the critical look crosses my face or the hasty word pops out of my mouth&#8230; I&#8217;m reminded. <em>Do you really want to go there?<\/em> Before, I would just do it. Now I hesitate. It&#8217;s changed me and I think its changed the atmosphere around me.<\/p>\n<p>I can still spout off at times&#8230; I&#8217;m passionate, maybe dramatic. But I now feel remorse when I speak too quickly or harshly. I notice the reactions. I ask for \u00a0forgiveness. I don&#8217;t enjoy being angry anymore. Time with Jesus has changed me.<\/p>\n<p>God is love and truth and mercy and calm. Jesus in me <em>has<\/em> made a difference. I am not the same as I was. Praise God! I hope I keep changing to be more like Him. And that it becomes\u00a0<em>easier than I ever though<\/em>t.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ForGlorySake!<\/strong><em> -Anna<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"761\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forglorysake.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/IMG_4758-1.jpg?resize=640%2C761&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6410\"\/><figcaption>bloom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was a child, we attended a church with a lot of ceremony and repetition. I memorized so many prayers and hymns that were used to communicate with God. Then I discovered Jesus was a personal Savior, and I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/27\/easier-than-i-thought\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1420,10],"tags":[1266,123,1267,1265],"class_list":["post-784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","category-trust","tag-changed","tag-chaos","tag-different","tag-time-together"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUt4s-cE","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6412,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions\/6412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forglorysake.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}