Have You Come A Long Way?

Mark 8:3, 6
And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.
6And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground: and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them; and they did set them before the people.

Jesus never leaves us 'hungry' or 'dead' especially when we've 'came from far'.  Sometimes, it's hard to believe that God really does look at our consistency and how He blesses those times we had with Him (like when the people came a long way to spend time with Jesus) and in return, God never leaves those people empty-handed or hungry.

Amazing principles we see here:

1.  When we 'come a long way' in order to invest time with Jesus, He blesses that.
2.  Time invested in Christ's teachings, seeking Him and hearing from Him is never a time wasted.
3.  There will be times of obscurity (like seemingly not having enough) even when we have come a long way to follow Jesus.
4.  Jesus' principles to feed the 4,000 was (a) took what they had - seven loaves (b) gave thanks (c) brake - divided them up perhaps into small pieces; power of multiplication in divine allocation

Personally, it feels as though 'come a long way' to follow Jesus and I am at the point of this weird obscurity where I sometimes do not know what is next or that if God would lead me into another direction.  Yet, I know that God will never let me 'go empty-handed'.  I realize that I really need to continually just seek God and be back in the loop of investing time in and with Him through extensive reading of the Word and personal Bible study (seeking-with-all-my-heart types of reading).  I miss those times, and even having this time to journal and dig deep.  God knows I've 'come a long way' hence I know that He will take care of me.  I will need to just trust Him as I continue to spend time with Him.

In leadership - take what I have, give thanks to the Lord, break them into 'small pieces' and allocate - distribute (practical application of what was broken into small pieces; delegate them).  

// Lord, I thank you for reminding me always that I need that quality time with You.  Help me to have that time set aside in the day.  I want to hear from You and I want to learn from You.  Help me to trust knowing that You will never leave us empty-handed.  Even after You teach us our lesson, you still provide us with the tools the we need to be the light in the dark world.  Please help me - I can't do this without you.  I need Your strength for I am just a weak vessel.  But with Your strength, I know that I can do it.  In Jesus' name, amen.