To be honest, I’ve always been a little intimidated by the pressure to have daily “quiet time” with God. My life is anything but quiet and the harder I try to have that special time, the louder it tends to get. Plus, there is the pressure of choosing the perfect time of day. Everyone talks about how important it is to give God your first few minutes each day. But, I couldn’t be less of a morning person and it takes me forever to really wake up, so am I giving God the best of me first thing in the morning when I’m all sluggish and grumpy? BUT kicking the day off right really can set the tone for a better day. All this pressure to do it “right” caused me to skip out on it for years.
Why try if I’m just going to fail?
I have a sneaky suspicion that I’m not alone with these thoughts so I wanted to share a resource that really helped me get passed the intimidation and pressure…and just get started!
I’m a big fan of the Cultivate What Matters goal setting resources so it was natural for me to check out their faith-based resources as well. The Write the Word journals were the perfect “dipping the toe” into a structured quiet time tool for me. They are simple and easy to use so it allows you to dig deep into what matters.
Each page begins with the date, something you are grateful for, and then a verse to write. I love kicking off the morning with a grateful heart. Then the act of writing out the verse helps me digest what I’m reading. The back of the page is open for notes and it’s here that I write my morning prayer or prayer requests or whatever I’m feeling that day…getting it out of my head and onto the paper. Each journal is a collection of verses focused on a theme like cultivating hope, rooting into the word, fruits of the spirit, etc.
Being who I am, someone who likes to keep things fairly structured, these journals really helped me develop the routine of morning quiet time. I’m no longer overwhelmed by the ambiguous idea of quiet time because I have a structure and routine now to kick things off. For the critics out there that think making time with God structured takes the faith or listening out of it, I respectfully disagree. I’ve still, very much, heard God’s voice through the selection of verses. In fact…
When we were in the process of buying the house we are in currently, we took a big leap of faith and bought before we had sold our previous home. I knew this was the place we were supposed to be and I believe that when God brings you to it, He’ll bring ya through it. However, the longer we owned two homes the weaker my faith was getting. I recognized that this was a total first world problem and I felt guilty for stressing out about it but I was starting to get really, really stressed. I wanted to be a beacon of faith for my family to show what trusting God looked like…but it was getting really hard. I remember grabbing my Bible and journal one morning and before opening either, just praying “God, I’m weary. I really need some encouragement, guidance, peace. Please speak to me with your word this morning.” Simple and to the point. And then wouldn’t you know it, the verse for that day was Acts 4:34…
“There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them…”
Exactly what I needed to hear from exactly where I needed to hear it. And soon thereafter, we sold the other home and have grown by heaps and heaps where we have planted.
So, all this to say, if you feel intimidated by quiet time with the Lord and need a simple tool to help structure it and build the routine…this worked for me! 🙂
Side note, Lily has tried the journal geared towards kiddos and it’s really fun!