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When Your First Thought in the Morning Is Dread · Daily Devotions for Busy Lives

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  Bart Leger: Jenny Allen looked successful from the outside. She
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  was a Bible teacher who spoke to thousands of people about faith
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  on the inside. Her own mind was a crowded, anxious place full of
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  what-ifs. She just couldn't shut She started paying attention to
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  how the spiral worked. It almost always began the same way with a
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  single thought. done anything at all. The truth was, the battle
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  came down to the very first thought, long before the spiral
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  reached the bottom. We'll come back to what she did with that,
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  but first,
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  welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger.
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  There are mornings I wake up, and the week's already on me.
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  Before my feet hit the floor, I'm running Sunday's message and
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  a new speaking opportunity I know are coming. None of it has
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  happened yet. It's all still in my head at six in the morning.
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  And I know better than that. I've taught on this, and I can
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  still lie there and let the whole week run at me before I've
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  prayed a word. Some people wake up with a knot in their stomach
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  before their feet ever hit the floor. Something you were
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  worried about last night is right there waiting on you.
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  Something you have to do today feels too big to start, and the
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  list begins running before you're all the way awake. And
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  the first thing most of us do is reach for the phone, email, or
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  whatever came in overnight. So within about 90 seconds of
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  opening our eyes, the day has already told you what to fear.
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  David wrote something a long time ago about his mornings.
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  Psalm 143.8
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  Look at what David asks for, and when he asks for it, each
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  morning, he wants it first thing. Of all the voices that could get
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  to him first, he wants it to be God telling him about unfailing
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  love. Then look at the second half. Show me where to walk.
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  That's a request for the next few steps, which is about as far
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  ahead as any of us can see anyway. And notice what David
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  never claims. He doesn't say the dread was gone. He wrote this
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  psalm while men were hunting him. Read a few verses earlier, and
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  he said his spirit is crushed and his heart is numb with fear.
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  So the man asking to hear about unfailing love in the morning is
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  a man who woke up afraid. Which means part of this, I believe,
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  is a sequencing problem. The feeling shows up whether you
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  approve it or not. you get to decide is what gets the first 10
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  minutes. So tell God the truth about what you're afraid of
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  today. Say whatever's waiting on you in whatever words come out
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  of your mouth. Then ask him for the strength for one hour. It
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  only needs to be an hour at a time. Most of what you're
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  dreading at 6 in the morning is about 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
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  and God hasn't handed out 4 o'clock's grace yet. He gives it
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  when 4 o'clock gets there. Jenny learned that you don't have to
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  follow the first thought down. You can stop it the moment it
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  shows up and ask whether it's even true. Then you hand it to
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  God and answer it with what He has said. She built her life
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  around one line from Paul that we can take every thought
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  captive and make it obey Christ. The anxiety won't necessarily
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  vanish right away. But she found she had a choice at the top of
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  the spiral she never knew she had, and catching that first
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  thought was where her freedom started. Look at where she found
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  the leverage. At the top. One thought before it had pulled in
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  the next five. with 10 things at once, and I guarantee you,
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  you'll lose that argument. At the top, there's only one thing,
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  and you can ask whether it's even true. And for a lot of
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  people, the morning is the top of the spiral. The knot you wake
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  up with is number one. Here's today's challenge. Tomorrow
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  morning, before you touch your phone, do two things. Tell God
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  what you're dreading in whatever words come out. Then pray
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  David's line back to him. Let me hear of your unfailing love this
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  morning. And give it one week, seven mornings of God getting
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  the first slot ahead of the news in the email, and see what the
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  second week feels like. Father, you know which of us woke this
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  morning with the knot already there. Thank you that David
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  wrote this psalm while he was afraid, which tells us you are
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  not waiting on us to feel better before we talk to you. For
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  everybody listening who dreads the first ten minutes of the day,
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  be the first voice they hear tomorrow. Show them where to
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  walk and give them the strength for the next hour. In Jesus'
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  name, amen.
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  to you, would you take a minute and leave a rating and review?
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  It helps more people find these devotions, and it only takes a
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  moment. I'd be so grateful. Thanks for joining me on Daily
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  Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, you may not get to
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  pick the feeling, but you do get to pick what gets the first ten
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  minutes. Give God the first slot tomorrow. Come back next time
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  for more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth.
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  Until then, God bless and have a great day.