Every morning, after I exercise to get my blood going, I do my Quiet Time with God. By NO MEANS do I think that I am perfect OR that I do this perfect. I have made mistakes & continue to make mistakes. But I am SO THANKFUL that we serve a forgiving & forward-moving God. Let me tell you: there is a HUGE difference in my attitude & how my day ends up between days when I get to meet with God & when I don't. I've had a few people ask me what is this Quiet Time I talk about doing & WHY ON EARTH do I get up so early. I use this time to read a devotional, pray, & dig deeper into His Word. I get up EARLY to do my Quiet Time because I want to start my day with it & I want to give God my FULL attention with no distractions for anything I NEED to be doing in the house or helping the girls out.
I use Jesus Calling as my devotional. It is written like Jesus is talking directly to you. It only takes about 3-5 minutes to complete it. You read a message little message from His perspective & then read 2-4 verses that really go along with the message. If you are looking for a quick, daily devotional, this one is AWESOME! I have the hardback version....but there IS an app & I'm sure you can also get it on your Kindle or Nook.
I then do my prayers through Prayer Journaling. I used to just say a little prayer & move on; but I have found that I wasn't really putting any thought into it & it didn't seem heartfelt to me....I was given a Journal (for either my birthday or Christmas) & decided to use it to write my prayers in. At first I just wrote a little short prayer; but a VERY inspirational woman in my life once told me something to help me focus my prayers. You should PRAY:
P - praise God for what He has given you
R - repent of your sins
A - prayers for anyone other than yourself (great spot for when you tell someone you are praying for them)
Y - specific prayers for your life (this is where I take what I have read in Jesus Calling & pray about how to apply it to my life AND any other things I am trying to work on....I'm sure you will hear more on some of these as I Blog more)
For the longest, this is where my Quiet Time would stop. BUT, I wanted MORE! I have done A LOT of studying in my life with all the schooling I have completed; HOWEVER, I have never studied the Bible like I NEED to! I also haven't ever taken the time to read it from cover-to-cover (that is OFFICALLY on my Bucket List). So if I am involved in a Bible Study, this is when I spend time working on the Bible Study. The Bible Study I am currently working on: Raising Responsive Children. I am just now completing week 1 & let me tell you, it has been VERY eye-opening! Our group has it's first meeting TONIGHT & I am EXCITED! I LOVE how at the beginning of most Bible Studies I have done (not completed, but participated in), they make a statement about reading the Scriptures like it's the 1st time you have read them & do not rely on what you remember them saying. I LOVE this because it IS the first time I've read most of the Scripture!
