Growing in Faith

I must confess, my faith walk of late is lame. (Yes, pun intended!)  I am not putting into it what I should.  God should be my priority -- not my family, friends, writing or other distractions.  And yet, somehow, He has fallen through the cracks.

Today, my daughter sent me a detailed plan of how to get back on track.  I must confess, she is a great resource to me.  She knows that all Christians struggle and in fact, she too struggled until she got on this plan.  I challenge you, to renew your commitment and faith walk with me by following these steps -- Word, Worship and Prayer.

1.  Word -- Read the Bible regularly.  Many phone apps have a reading plan that you can choose from; you can do chronological, Bible in a year, etc.  Most Bible apps are free.  She also said the NLT translation is the one she enjoys.  I have always used NSV but may change it up.  Next, read from a daily devotional.  I have several devotionals here but she highly recommended Jesus Calling.  I had a credit on my Nook, so I have downloaded it to my phone.  She also recommends journalling -- write down anything that sticks out from the reading or anything that you may feel God is speaking to you about.  When she journals, she formats by SOS -- Say, Obey and Share.  What does the scripture say?  How do I obey?  And what/how/with/whom do I share?  This helps her focus on the day ahead.

2.  Worship -- she recommends (and I do to) listening to music and focusing on God, responding to Him and then just spend time talking to Him by declaring who He is, His promises for us, etc.  She listens to music while she reads the Bible.  I personally cannot multi-task, so I would have to make this a separate step.

3.  Prayer -- she keeps an ongoing list of people and things she is praying for, as well as specific prayer requests.  I also do this, although even my prayers of late have been ridiculously short and sweet.

This is very close to how I used to focus my walk with Jesus.  I have never journaled in the past except when taking notes during a Bible study, so I am definitely going to shake it up a bit.  She does her study when her babies are napping, whereas, I used to do mine before bed.  However, I now need to change up my time of day because once my melatonin kicks in, sleep is imminent.

I hope this has helped those of you, who like me, may have gotten out of the habit of spending time with God.  As I read the things my daughter sent me, I am so very proud of the young woman she has become; faith-filled and faithful.  God has truly blessed me.  Now it's time for me to thank him for all He has given me; including my incredible daughter, friend and sister-in-Christ.