Tonight during prayer service at church, I once again found myself victim to an intense headache. And I caught myself sitting in the service thinking, "I just want to be home. I'm in pain, and this stinks. I should just leave early." As I sat there and pondered how I could leave early and slip out the back quietly, this thought went through my mind:

"Now all day long, Weslynn, you've suffered through this headache and neck ache. You woke up this morning feeling like crap, but you pulled yourself together and went to work. You made it through the entire day just fine, and you even mustered up the strength to stop for a smoothie after work and then goof off with your carpool buddies on the way home. But now, all of a sudden, you can't take it? Interesting how that happens during a prayer service, don'tcha think? And what will you do if you go home now? Something that requires energy, I'm sure."

Ouch. Truth hurts. (My own spirit wouldn't even justify my leaving early!) So I stayed my happy little butt right there at church, but from then on I made sure my heart was in it. If I was going to be there, I was going to give as much (if not more) of myself to God as I had given to every other petty thing all day long. How come it's so easy to give of ourselves in so many areas in life (work, friends, family, etc.), yet when it comes to God, He gets our scraps? I'm learning how to give Him only my best. And that's lesson number one.

So as I sat solo in the pew, the Lord began to show me some awesome things about myself (in particular, areas I need to grow in). Good stuff, though. Some good truth for my life. And as He revealed these things to me in His gentle and loving way, He also lead a sweet sister in Christ my way to encourage me and let me know she had been praying for me. But it wasn't one of those sappy, "sister I've been praying for you" kind of moments. It was a real, I-know-God-sent-her-directly-to-me kind of moment. It was also a now-would-I-have-been-able-to-receive-that-gift-from-God-if-I-had-left-early kind of moment. Hmmmm....

And then I realized that when I give God my best, He gives me His best. Actually, He's always wanting to give me His best, but sometimes I (spiritually) duck out the back door before He has the chance to send gifts and blessings my way.

So if lesson number one is to give God my best, what's lesson number two? When I give Him my best, His best is waiting on me. In other words, if we want God's best, we must invest.

From my heart,