You’ve tossed and turned all night. Your mind is restless from the endless to-do list you have waiting for you as soon as your feet hit the floor. This doesn’t even include the thoughts from the previous day that you can’t seem to shake. You find yourself frustrated that you are frustrated by people and things that should not bring frustration.

As you try to sleep, you doze off for what seems like one minute only to have something else wake you back up. In your best efforts to go back to sleep, you can’t… All you can do is think, analyze, over-analyze and wonder when or if you’ll be able to fix and accomplish everything with everyone. Most of all though, you just want to fix you and to be at peace… to be able to enjoy and embrace the blessings you know you have but don’t deserve.

Have you ever had a night like this? Where endless thoughts are in abundance? If we’re honest, I think many of us have experienced these kind of nights. Maybe not every night, maybe not even on a regular basis, but what do you do when you have a night or a day like this?

I think most people decide to try harder and think through it more. With good intentions, we re-make our plans, lists, and even promises that we know we most likely won’t be able to keep, but here’s worth another shot, right?

What if you could do one thing that would dramatically change your outlook, pace, and even teach you something about yourself?… Would you do it?

I’m guessing you would, so now you are probably thinking, “What is it? What is this one step?” Thanks for reading to this point, but what I’m about to tell you will seem extremely simple at first. You’ll be tempted to think, “I read this whole post for him to say that.” Trust me though, this step will shift what could be the worst day or season into a new direction where you find purpose and a renewed perspective.

Here it is… Unscramble this word… R P Y A I…

OK, leave out the I… it was placed there to confuse you… Now did you figure it out?

You most likely did, and you may be thinking, “I’ve already tried that” but how did you do this? How you went about it is the key. Let me explain. (The word is “pray”)

HOW you come before God matters just as much as WHAT you say when you come to Him. Actually, I think it matters more. If we really want God to intervene in our situations, then we must come to Him broken and humble. We have to OWN the fact that we are busy, stressed, and even misguided in various parts of our lives. We may need to admit to God that some of our actions have been wrong and selfish. We have to WANT something different even if that means making the changes God will lead us to make.

Perhaps, you need to confess Psalm 51 to God. Perhaps you need to ask Him to make Matthew 6:25-34 a reality in your life. Maybe you need to just sit in His presence and cry the tears you’ve been holding back for months. Only when you pray like this will you have really prayed about your situation. It’s in these moments that you’ll be ready to receive His strength and vision for your life. This is when you decide to stop chasing the broken persona you’ve unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) created for yourself.

Now, this step won’t instantly change your schedule or the commitments you already have in place. However, this is the first step you must take… Admitting you don’t have it all figured and that you need His strength in your life. Then, as you continue to intentionally MAKE time to be still and humble in His presence as I’ve described, He will slowly begin to work on your heart. As He works on your heart, you will begin to change what you care about. The Holy Spirit will begin to come alive in you. You will start to embrace the gifts you already have and also be positioning yourself for what’s to come.

Change only comes when you turn to the One capable of making the changes in your heart. Seeking Him will require you to physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually humble yourself in a still position before Jesus. As you do this one time, and then seek to continually do it, He will do what only He can do in and through you. So the next move is yours. What are you going to do?