🙌 It's the Friday Call to Worship! 🙌

I was sick this week with a head cold that left me foggy during the day and sleepless at night. I rarely made it to my treasured morning quiet time with the Lord before the day got going. My teenage son had a hard day in the midst of it. Two hard things happened to him on the same day, one of them requiring a tough conversation between us.

I felt like I couldn't reach him and couldn't get it right. I felt distant from God. I felt sick and ill-fit for parenting or anything else. Lies shot into my thoughts like flaming arrows, until I realized the same thing was probably happening to my son at that very same moment. If I was feeling overwhelmed with heaviness, lies, and hard things, there was a good chance he was too. That was enough to change my trajectory.

I prayed a one-breath prayer - just enough to silence my own thoughts. Without thinking anymore, I went back to my teenager. I opened my mouth, and words that were not my own poured out of me with passion and power. That faithful friend of ours - the Wonderful Counselor and gracious Comforter - the Holy Spirit was there. He was interceding for my son and putting His truth in my mouth. My teen didn't need to be reached by me that night, but by the Helper that would be with him always.

I learned a lesson I'll never forget. If I have an off-week, if I feel "far" from God, or am struggling with issues I can't see past, it only takes a breath. In fact, it only takes a name: Jesus. Like the prodigal son, no matter how far and fast we go off-course, Home is a breath away.

Put your thoughts on pause for a moment, and worship with Natalie Grant's "My Weapon" (sacred version).