Ain’t That A VHIT
Moving From Survival to Uplift and Love
By Von C. Howard
There are days when I give God what is left instead of giving Him what is first.
Before my feet touch the floor, my mind is already moving. I am thinking about responsibilities, unfinished work, family needs, unanswered messages, financial concerns, meetings, and the people depending on me. Somewhere between the morning rush and the exhaustion of the evening, I realize that I have spoken to everyone except the One who gave me the day.
That realization causes me to ask myself an important question: What does the Lord truly require of me?
Micah 6:8 gives us a clear answer: to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. However, walking with God requires more than attending church, serving on committees, helping others, or knowing the right religious words. Walking with God requires intentionally safeguarding time to be in His presence.
That time does not always have to look like an hour-long devotion, an elaborate prayer routine, or a perfectly quiet room. Sometimes it is sitting still before the rest of the house wakes up. Sometimes it is praying in the car before walking into work. Sometimes it is reading one verse slowly and allowing it to settle into your spirit. Sometimes it is simply saying, “Lord, help me carry today the right way.”
Those simple moments matter because time with God does not always immediately change what is happening around us. Often, it changes what is happening within us.
Many of us have spent years living in survival mode. We are trying to make it through another day, keep the bills paid, meet expectations, avoid disappointing people, and remain strong for everyone around us. Survival can keep us functioning, but it can also make us guarded, impatient, emotionally exhausted, and disconnected from who we truly are.
God can shift us from survival to uplift.
In His presence, we begin to understand that we were not created merely to endure life. God can restore our joy, renew our thinking, and remind us that we are still worthy of peace. He can lift us above the fear, frustration, bitterness, and anxiety that survival sometimes produces.
That uplift also creates room for love.
When God heals the places that pressure has hardened, we become more patient with others and more compassionate toward ourselves. We stop treating every disagreement as a battle. We stop believing every closed door is rejection. We stop carrying burdens God never assigned to us.
Spending time with God helps us recognize that every opportunity is not our assignment, every opinion does not require our response, and every problem is not ours to solve. Sometimes protecting our peace means releasing what drains us so that our hearts can remain open to God.
Safeguarding time with the Lord also requires honesty. We do not have to pretend that everything is fine. We can bring God our confusion, anger, disappointment, fear, exhaustion, and unanswered questions. God is not intimidated by our truth. Some of our most transformational moments with Him begin when we stop performing and start speaking honestly from the heart.
The goal is not simply to become more religious. The goal is to become more loving, patient, discerning, humble, forgiving, and spiritually grounded.
Safeguarding your time with the Lord is not selfish. It is necessary. It is where survival gives way to uplift, uplift makes room for love, and your life begins to reflect the peace of the God you have been spending time with.
