“And the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness…..This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Lord.” Exodus 16:2,8

Recently, I have been under a lot of stress. God is truly blessing my family, but “good stress” – is still stress! My days have been filled with to-do lists, phone calls and never-ending appointments. I realized that I had reached my limit when I broke down crying to my friend, Angel over the phone. I was exhausted and needed rest. The next morning during my quiet time with God, I felt the Lord speak the following to me: “Tracy, I have parted the Red Sea (done a miracle) for you and your husband. I am taking you to your next promise land, but you must stop grumbling and complaining or I will have to take my hand off of you.” Immediately, I repented and asked for God’s grace and strength in order to endure the journey to reach my promise land. He was right – I was being just like the Israelites who praised God when He parted the Red Sea on their behalf, but only a few days later they began to grumble and complain about various obstacles they had to conquer to get to their Promise Land. I had fallen for an old, but familiar trap of grumbling and complaining and I needed to HALT!

You see, because I was overly tired – I let down my spiritual guard and allowed my mouth (through grumbling and complaining) to get me into trouble. As a counselor, I am aware that negative thoughts and speech cause extreme fatigue and frustration! I once heard Pastor Charles Stanley share a powerful acronym with his congregation. He stated the need to H-A-L-T whenever we are:

H-Hungry
A-Angry
L-Lonely
T-Tired.

Pastor Stanley explained that when we are experiencing any of these physical or emotional deficits, the devil will try to pull us into fleshly temptations (i.e. – fear, over-eating, addictions, worry, doubt, negativity, grumbling, etc).

No matter what you are going through at this time: H-A-L-T and take care of you! God is continually taking us from glory to glory! He is leading us each day to greater things. So go ahead, take a nap, eat a big steak, forgive the one who has offended you and ask for God to fill you with His awesome love this day. Trust me, I did all of the above, and I am in a much better place! God can meet whatever need you have today. He promises that He will never leave you or forsake you. Rest in the simple fact that His mighty hand is upon you:)

Prayer:
“Lord, thank You for Your mercy and grace. I ask that You give me wisdom on how to take care of myself. I give You my hunger and ask that You feed me. I give You my anger and ask that You replace it with a heart of forgiveness and love. I give You my loneliness and ask that You pour out Your love upon me this day. I give You my tiredness and ask that You give strength to my mind, body and spirit. Jesus, I want to reach my next promise land and with Your grace and strength, I can even enjoy the journey! I love you Heavenly Father ask that You fill me to over-flowing.” Amen.

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