{"id":22820,"date":"2018-04-14T03:30:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T10:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=22820"},"modified":"2018-04-12T10:30:55","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T17:30:55","slug":"april-14-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2018\/04\/14\/april-14-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"April 14, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\u201cRemain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed (or disconnected) from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>John 15:4 (NLT)<\/p>\n

The Great Disconnect<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>I have an affliction. I share this affliction with only 10% of the population. Getting sympathy for this affliction is rare, and hard-won when accomplished. Surely by now you\u2019re at the edge of your seat, wondering what ails me. I\u2019m talking, of course, about being left-handed! Oh, sure, you can laugh, but sometimes it is genuinely difficult to navigate in a world that rarely considers you. Now, just to be clear, in no way would I put myself on the same level as those born with physical or mental challenges, nor do I take those things lightly.<\/p>\n

Besides can openers, knives, power tools and even purses, there is one right-handed object I really\u00a0<\/em>struggle with (insert ominous music here): the computer mouse<\/em>. At my desk, I can adjust my mouse to the left, and mouse merrily away all day long with nary a thought. But if I go to someone else\u2019s computer and use their right-handed mouse, a big disconnect happens. Suddenly, I can\u2019t do simple things! Teaching someone how to use a program I\u2019m familiar with, an Internet search, even something as simple as printing becomes laborious. I sit and click uselessly away until I finally run to my desk, go through the motions with my left hand, and then rush back to the right-handed station before I forget how to do it. The struggle is real!<\/p>\n

There is another disconnect that is far more distressing though, and that is when I feel disconnected from the Lord. Unfortunately, I can\u2019t blame that on being left-handed. Instead, I have to observe myself hanging tenuously on the vine, and do some self-evaluation. I\u2019m not in the Word enough. I\u2019m too distracted to say more than a hasty prayer. During worship, I may think about everything but the words my lips are proclaiming. As much as I\u2019d love for those things to just happen for me, I had to learn that these are things I have to pursue<\/em>. And even though it\u2019s work, pursuit is a good thing\u2014that means I\u2019m not just doing things automatically or from habit. Just as we want those around us to purpose to have a relationship with us, God desires the same thing.<\/p>\n

Take a moment to think on the things that cause you to feel disconnected from the Lord. Without beating yourself up, pray through these things. And remember, God loves you. Yes, you!<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus, I\u2019m sorry for the times that I allow disconnect to happen. Thank You for remaining faithful to me, even during the dry times. Thank You for loving me. Even me. In Your name I pray, Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5W4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22820"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22823,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22820\/revisions\/22823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}