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This is one of my first blogcasts in a long time where I haven’t had any major focus on quoting scriptures or teaching a biblical lesson. The only quote that I have for today is from 1st Thessalonians 5:19 which states “Quench not the Holy Spirit.” A basic concept that says do not ignore when the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.
I find it fitting that this blogcast has this verse chosen for today’s focus when last week it was all about ensuring that we pray in the right way. Making sure we pray for the purpose of growing in closeness to God rather than going to Him for our own benefit and well-being as many in the world do.
When I write these blogcasts I have a prayer of surrender to God; reminding myself that it doesn’t belong to me, but to Him and that it is meant to be an avenue for reaching others on the internet who will eventually read/listen to these blogcasts. Every question that might have been answered through this, or a concept made clear to you in one of my analogies, and the general life lessons from scripture are all a result of obedience to Holy Spirit as He speaks and guides the words I write. It was maybe a week or two ago that I was in prayer and He, our friend Holy Spirit, was clear to me that I need to take a break until things calm down in my life. I’m mostly a private person online when it comes to what I post and make an effort to control the type of information that becomes public knowledge in these blogcasts. But, I find it necessary to give you a “Behind the Scenes” into my life today.
I have mentioned in the past that I work in manufacturing and have only been able to keep up with the blogcasts due to having times when I can write and record two episodes on a weekend. This then gives me the buffer I need to ensure we don’t have any disruptions to the blogcast being available. But recently things have changed and I’m doing overtime at work three days a week just about every week. It’s been that way for about two months now and it doesn’t seem like it’s about to end any time soon. Overtime at my place constitutes working 12-Hour days which are usually from 03:30-15:30 for me. I do however have a system of going to bed early so that I’m not that cheated out of a proper night’s rest when those days happen. On those days I am usually running on 6 to 8 hours of sleep depending on factors like self-discipline and noise level.
This causes an increased amount of stress compared to my old employer where your schedule never fluctuated. Overtime was something that you did on your own asking for it if you saw that you needed some time to finish a project or ensure something else worked right. It’s a regular task for me to check my app that shows my hours so that I know if I am working on Saturday and what days I have a 12-Hour shift. Thankfully, I have only needed to work for 12 hours on a Saturday once in my fifteen months working at this place.
Let me just say that I’m impressed with how long this ministry has been able to keep on going in the face of all this. Twenty-One weeks of regular provision to you. When we compare it to last year that barely had a little over half that in three times the length of time. That’s only possible because of the provision God gave us in subjects to cover, scriptures to read, and questions to answer. It has been enjoyable and I love writing these blogcasts as they are a place to exercise with the giftings God gave me for the purpose of helping others in their spiritual growth. But right now, it’s time for me to take a rest from this until things settle down. And the good news is that things will.
I am currently figuring out the details but I am planning to go back to school in January to learn a trade. As a full-time student, life will settle down in comparison to what I am currently living through. My prayers and hopes are that I’ll get the go-ahead to come back in the spring of 2024 after finding the groove of student life and married life. But in the interim, I’ll keep writing and recording as He gives me things to research and study for my own benefit. Building up a nice collection that can be released once again on a weekly or bi-monthly basis depending on what He says when we get to that bridge. Something to act as that lovely buffer against stress and being stuck on the “content treadmill” as creators on YouTube call the grind to make weekly products.
When I come back I hope to have more types of stuff available for you. Not just the blogcasts, but interviews with people who have more insight into situations than I have. These will be available as podcasts only but it will be a new thing and could even allow us to have more content released each week. Interviews on world events and separate blogcasts to teach Biblical principles.
This break, while it is going to last longer than the two-month one I had last year, I believe will result in more life being poured into it. And make it more able to help you all grow. Before we finish today I ask and beg that you all follow this ministry on Facebook and subscribe to the Thoughtful Thursdays with Zachary Coffey podcast so that you can receive the new episodes when I come back. The link to our Facebook page is facebook.com/isaiah118ministries. You can send me questions on Biblical subjects or world events there. As I’ve mentioned before I love being able to interact with all of you so receiving questions makes my day. The podcast can be found on just about every podcast platform except for Google Podcasts.
So until next time, Courage and Godspeed.