the slump

For about a week I was profoundly uninspired to write...I feel guilty even confessing such nonsense! Here I am surrounded by the vivid sights, the haunting sounds, and certainly the unforgettable smells, of West Africa and my mind is paralyzed to all creative thought.
Perhaps my “writers block” was a result of over simulation, a temporary sensory paralysis due to over exertion? Who knows? The origin of my slump is not all that important, the importance is the slump.
The slump led me to work on lesson plans, grading tests, and editing student work. The slump led me towards work-related writing. Writing that is tedious, mundane, and ordinary. However, God allowed the slump for a reason (as he always does). While grading papers and preparing for the upcoming week I came across a composition notebook (you know...the black and white ones requested by all teachers on the annual school supply list. The one that teachers insist we use because no pages can be torn out of them...that composition notebook). When I saw this notebook I remembered exactly what was inside...It was a journal.
I began to leaf through the pages of this journal and reminisce as I read my own handwriting on the pages...
My heart began racing... my emotions were stirring... I could remember the exact moment of every word I had written in the black and white composition notebook... and at that moment...

I praised God for the slump.

Reading my own words and ideas in that composition notebook reminded me of an essential truth I had forgotten that week

...it is God who inspires.

Therefore, my lack of inspiration stemmed from my slump with Him.
Forgive me Lord, and shake me out of complacency... My desire is to disturb humanity with Your love... and I want Your creativity to fill my thoughts. My creativity is limited, human, and ordinary.

You are creativity!

Revive Me!

Hear my Prayer... Give Your ear,

In Your faithfulness answer me.

Teach me to be in Your will, Lord

For You are my God.

Your Spirit is Good, Good, Good.

Lead me on level ground, Lord

For You are my God.

Your Spirit is Good, Good, Good

Revive me!

Revive me!

Not for me, but for Your name.

In Your mercy deliver me from my enemies. Revive me!

I remember the days of old;

I meditate on all You have done;

I ponder on the works of Your hands

I spread out my hands for You,

My soul longs,

Like parched land I am thirsty for Your rain.

Revive me!

Revive me!

Not for me, but for Your name.

In Your mercy deliver me from my enemies. Revive me!

David’s cry for help...My cry for revival... Psalm 143