Okay, well the 30 days have come and gone and I just wanted to share with you what I learned over that time period.  There were quite a few things, some pretty, some ugly….it’s amazing what we can learn about ourselves!!

1.)  I learned that I am not a morning person…but that the Lord rewards you for making Him priority.  I know I blogged on this and said that amazingly once I committed to getting myself up at 7:00 Satan attacked and my kiddos started waking up at 7:00 as well.  I must say though, that even if I only got 15 minutes with Jesus, those 15 minutes seemed like a lot more.  He seemed as though He blessed me putting Him as a priority in my life.

2.)  I learned that I am selfish.  Even though I knew my day went better, it was so hard getting my butt out of bed every morning.  I would tell myself…oh I’ll spend time with Jesus at naptime or after the kids go to bed.  And I would….but I just feel like it wasn’t quite the same as making the Lord the first priority of my morning.

3.)  You need both prayer and knowledge.  When I started my journey I wasn’t doing a specific Bible Study so I would start out with 15 minutes of prayer and then read a psalms, a  Proverbs, and a Chapter of John since that was what we were studying in our church.  It’s amazing what 15 minutes of prayer can do to start your day out right!!  I felt like those days I was more aware of God around and in me.   He wasn’t an afterthought.  Half way through my 30 days I started a Beth Moore study and started doing that during my quiet times.  I replaced my prayer with study.  Study which was amazing.  Learning and diving into who Jesus really is, the awesomeness of God, the symbolism and stories that grow our intimacy are priceless.  And I do believe we need this to really understand the nature of God and our relationship with Him.  But when it replaced my own personal time with Jesus it wasn’t good.  I knew more about Jesus and was awed by Him..my mind was expanding, but my heart wasn’t.  My personal relationship wasn’t.  That’s when I realized that we need to grow both our head knowledge and our heart intimacy.  One does not work without the other!

4.)  I realized I was selfish!  Oh, did I mention that one already??  :)  Yep, it’s true.  I still cannot understand why some days it’s so hard for me to give up 20 minutes for Jesus when I can sit and numb my brain with the Today show in the morning for 45 like nothing.  I know what I need to be doing but I don’t always follow through with it!!  The world can so easily suck me into the egocentric attitude it has!!

5.)  I learn that I fail everyday.  And God’s mercies are new every morning.  Praise Jesus!  I fail as a mom, a wife, a friend, and a daughter of Jesus.  I am human.  God is Faithful.  Enough said!

So, on that encouraging note….I pray that your 30 days with Jesus brought you into a deeper intimacy with Him, and taught you a little about yourself.  The journey is not over.  It’s never over.  And this world is only a teeeny tiny part of the rest of our eternity.  So let’s persevere together to do the best job we can with this small amount of time the Lord blessed us with on earth:)