Job 35:10 "Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?"

Do you ever experience sleepless nights, tossing and turning..and simply waiting for the first glimmer of dawn? This was a real pattern for me for a while. I would wake up at some point during the night..and my thoughts were all over the place. I would think about what happened during the day..what might happen the next day..what I needed to get done..how far behind I was..conversations with people would play over and over in my mind..and those were on the nights when it wasn 't bad. Some nights, I really struggled with the fact that when my sister died a few months ago, I didn't know whether or not she was saved. My thoughts went from thinking that I should have done more..all the way to thinking that I have some of the same medical problems that she had..and you can imagine from there. I would get up in the morning with a headache..and not rested at all.
Today's devotion is very practical, but I think sometimes they need to be. I have found something that has really helped me was right before going to bed, like maybe in that last hour.. Most evenings I try to just slow down, and shut the world out..I usually like the t.v turned off....and I don;t always answer the phone..I try to just spend some quiet time with the Lord. Sometimes I will read..but sometimes my mind is so overwhelmed from the day's events that even reading is hard. When that happens, I will take just one verse that really speaks to me and that I find gives me comfort..and I will simply meditate on that verse. Often, I have thought about the fact that God IS love..and that He loves me. Sometimes I think about the fact that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Sometimes I simply think about the fact that He has made me a new creature in Him.
Focusing on God before going to sleep has really helped me to get a better night's sleep..if I do wake up in the night, I begin once again, thinking about the things of God..and when those other thoughts try to work their way into my mind..(I really believe those are darts from the enemy)..I start over..I begin again thinking on whatsoever things are lovely..and whatsoever things are filled with truth..and whatsoever things are of good report.
I don't know what it is about that state right before we go to sleep, or right when we first wake up. Maybe we are more vulnerable then because we're tired..whatever the case..if you fill your mind with the things of God, it will help. Take heart, beloved, your Maker will come near to you..and give you a song in the night..a song of hope that will bring you through whatever you are facing.