Because of my role as music minister, I have long found myself feeling obliged to attend events when I don't necessarily feel like it. Early on in our prayer group, which will observe its 30th anniversary next year, I would often hear other members say on some evenings that they didn't really feel like coming, but were always glad afterward that they did. I could relate; although I was usually not as close to deciding not to attend because of my role in the meeting, it seemed like it was always the times I least wanted to be there that I ended up being the most blessed. It led me to believe that we really do have an adversary who works in part through our normal feelings to discourage us from receiving blessings which God intends for us to have, and I have tried to apply this lesson ever since.
That lesson pays off on mornings like this one, when I really wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep rather than attend our men's fellowship and prayer group. I slept especially poorly again last night due to cramping, even without any exercise to contribute to the problem. But I was awake shortly before the meeting started, so I got ready and headed out the door. I was blessed with an opportunity to share honestly and in the proper context about some recent struggles. I didn't leave with any new answers, but was reaffirmed in the insights that I've felt as if the Lord has been leading me back to lately: neither my feelings nor my thoughts in response to them are the same thing as the truth, and I am right to instead take my guidance from sources which don't waver on a whim.
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