On Writing Conversations with God

I love Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.

The story behind Jesus Calling is that Sarah, a missionary, began filling her journals with what she felt God was saying to her.  Many years later, excerpts from those words from God where compiled into this and other devotionals, and read as though God is speaking directly to the reader.  I'm convinced that sometimes He is.

More than a year ago, our pastor taught on Sabbath.  About taking time to stop normal, and rest, play, and be with God.  Not just to talk to Him, or even study His Word, but to be with Him.  And that involves hearing from Him.  Listening.  Letting Him speak into our lives, into whatever is on our hearts.

Intrigued by Sarah's words from God, and challenged by Pastor Don's teaching, I decided to try something new during my time with God sometimes.  I decided to try to journal not only my words to God, but His words to me.

I know it might sound a little iffy--a little risky--to attempt to write down what God would say.  I mean...cmon...who am I to think I know His words?  Yet, He speaks.  And I've found this practice very meaningful.  It seems that God meets me there.  In the writing down, there seems to be greater clarity.  I write quickly and try not to analzye too much as I'm writing, or else my dumb brain just gets in the way.  I go back and reread the conversation...and the insights have been, at times, incredible.  (Of course, anything that would be counter to scriptural truth would be dismissed quickly--but that hasn't happened so far.)

At the risk of you thinking I'm a total-fruitcake, I thought about sharing one of the conversations with you all here...but they are all so personal, I'm not sure they would mean much to anyone but me.  In fact, I've just glanced back at my journal from the last year looking for something I could share that doesn't include all kinds of details that would need explanation, or shouldn't be shared here.  I did find one of my very first written conversations from a year ago, written during one of my sitting-in-the-car-at-soccer-practice quiet times. It kind of made me chuckle at the "clunkiness" of it.  Here is the beginning:

So I'm sitting here
in my car
unsure if You have something to say
time with You goes quickly, so I want to treasure it,
but I grow impatient--waiting for You to speak.
                            Then stop talking.
I did.  I waited!
                            Only for a few seconds.
It's weird to me to sit and do nothing.
                             I know.  But I need you to slow down so your brain can be at a
                             wavelength to hear Me.
OK. I'll wait here with unfocused thoughts.  And shut up.  And even if all you have to say is "glad you are here" that is fine.

As I continue reading in my journal I see that I did sit and wait that day.  And rather than continue the conversation, God gave me a picture.  I saw myself sitting at His feet with my head in His lap.  (God's lap!  wow.)  And God was stroking my hair.  (How intimate!).  I don't usually like people stroking my hair, cause their fingers get caught in my curls and kind of pull on it.  Yet, God was stroking my hair and I liked it.  I imagined Him having the same difficulty with my curls and I felt bad about it.  He said to me at that moment, "I gave you these curls".  And I imagined My Lord smiling.

OK, so that was not the life instruction I thought I'd hear that day.  Instead God just wanted me to know how much He treasures time with me.  How much He loves me.  Just the way I am.

Wow, right?

Perhaps that wasn't the best example of the sometimes-long conversations God and I have in my journal, cause it turned into a mental picture with a simple message.  Regardless, you get a glimpse in the beginning of how I write the conversation down as it's happening.  And it is not unusual for God to speak words of love and reassurance to my heart.  I figure He'd use those opportunities to tell me how I need to change and which way to go (He does that too) but more often than not He seems to want to reassure me of His love.

Give it a try!  Talking to God in written form slows the whole thing down--cause writing is a bit more laborious than just thinking, but I don't think the slow is bad.  And, I like being able to go back and read our conversations later.

How thankful I am that we have a God that wants to be with us and wants to speak with us.  It doesn't really matter if we write it or draw it, or even sing it.  What matters is that we go to Him.  And we listen.

I hope you carve some time to listen today.

24over24

My dear friend Carly is a woman who loves and pursues God.  She also is fun and sassy--which makes her a truly delightful person to know.  She has invited and challenged the women in her life to spending an hour a day with God over the next 24 days  (Sept. 7 - Sept. 30).  Here is what she says, 


"While I love my time with God, I have struggled over the last couple months to meet with Him as much as I'd like to.  I've let life's distractions steal my time with Jesus. What came to mind was to commit to spend at least 1 hour a day alone with God for 24 days.  While I don't believe there is any "cookie-cutter" right way to spend time with God (amount of time, time of day, etc.) and there isn't any magic in the 1hour/day equation, I needed a solid & well-defined commitment to jump start and build momentum in this area of my life and 24over24 is what God laid on my heart."


Don't you just love her?!?  

Carly and me.

I have decided to join in--even though I am not an-hour-a-day-quiet-time sort of gal.  I tend to be a two/three hours once or twice a week, twenty minutes other days, and some days a quickly muttered prayer of desperation as I run out the door to my day.  So, at Carly's invitation, I am going to try this whole consistency thing.

I would sincerely like to invite you to join us!  

Seriously, this invitation is for you whether you are a regular reader of theGoodlife (bless you faithful few!) or just have found yourself here by way of chatting at the sky, or other haphazard clicking.  If you have stumbled on this post, consider this an invitation from God and me.  If it's no longer September 7, so what?  Do less than 24 days...or extend it past September.  As Carly says, there is no magic formula.  


If you would like to join in the 24over24 challenge--let me know it the comments.  It will bless Carly's socks off to know you've hopped on board with us! I will follow up with you all in some way, and maybe even have a linky party in a week or so to hear about your experiences.


Perhaps you have never spent time with God, or not much, but you are interested.  What do you do?  Again, no magic formula, now am I an expert, but I can make a few suggestions: 


1) Be intentional.  Pick a time, pick a place as my pastor says.  It can be a different time on different days if need be...but figure it out before each day begins or it will slip away.


2) Pray.  Simply talk to God and ask Him to lead  you through your time with Him.  Tell Him your concerns and fears.  No special words needed--He's just glad you are talking with Him.


3) Read God's Word--the Bible.  You can find a reading plan online, or you can try reading 5 Psalms a day.  ( I start with the Psalm that coordinates with today's date and then keep reading every 30th Psalm until you read 5.  For example, today I would read Psalm 7, Psalm 37, Psalm 67, Psalm 97, Psalm 127.  You can read them all in a month that way.)  You could also read the chapter of Proverbs that correspond with the date.  If you are brand new to God's Word, you could start by reading one of the Gospels that tell about Jesus' life:  Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.


4) You could also read a devotional.  There are many wonderful devotionals out there.  My current favorite is Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.  It is SO good, and deserves it's own post one of these days.


5) Journal your thoughts, your prayers, what you think God is saying to you.  I NEED to journal.  It's the external processor in me.  You might not.  You might draw or sit quietly or sing in response.  It's your time with God.


6)  Listen.  This is a difficult discipline for me, but one I am working on, and will specifically work on during 24over24.  God wants to speak to me, and I look forward to what He has to say.


7) Don't give up.  Miss a day?  Not quite get to an hour?  Don't stop.  Don't stop!  Perfection is not the goal.  Hanging out with God is.


Today, I am joining emily at chatting at the sky for Tuesdays Unwrapped where we celebrate everyday gifts.  Today I am celebrating that God has given me friends like Carly to challenge and encourage me.


Again, I invite you to join in 24over24!  I am excited to see how God will work in our lives as we do.  Just let me know you are going for it in the comments, and leave your email if it isn't attached to your profile.  This way, I can include you in any follow up info.  I'll be in touch!

time to listen

A few posts back, I mentioned how our pastor is challenging us to observe sabbath.  He says, "pick a time, pick a place, and enter in."  Don't get all hung up on the details--does it have to be a whole day?  does it matter which day??  Sometimes we get caught up in the particulars and don't actually practice sabbath.

What is sabbath?  As I've learned from my pastor, it is stopping, resting, playing, listening.  Stopping...all the things that pull on you day in and out.  That could be working at the office, or cooking dinner or whatever.  Resting...slow down, take a nap, whatever is restful to you.  Playing...that means different things to different people.  It could mean taking a walk, playing monopoly with your kids, or dancing around your living room.   Listening...this might be the most important.  We need to slow down, change our regular mode, do something different than normal in order to have the space to listen.  We need to listen to God.  What is He saying to us?

Well, I've been doing a bunch of reflecting on sabbath lately and not a lot of practicing it.  VBX next week.  Hubby's back pain affecting life.  blah, blah, blah.  Yes, it's busy and stressful right now, and time is short--but all the more reason for sabbath.

Today I grabbed an hour by myself.  Three hours would have been better.  A full day would have been lovely.  But rather than whine about how an hour was all I had, I stopped.  And entered in.  And listened.  And ate a cinnamon crunch bagel--mmmmmmm.

And God was there with me.  He spoke gentle words to my soul.  He helped me align my perspective to His as I journeyed into the day ahead.  It would have been a different day without that hour in His presence.

I am unwrapping the gift of my mini-sabbath today with Emily at chatting at the sky with the hopes of encouraging you to stop, rest, play and listen.  Pick a time, pick a place and enter in.

We are not ants.

"Ants don't sleep."

That's what Bubba read me from the cool facts app on my ipod as we drove down the road.  Really?? I didn't know that...although I do know that those little guys are busy, busy little guys.

On Saturday, Bubba and I were weeding (you know, pulling the grass out from where we don't want it to grow even though it's not growing well where we want it to).  Some of the grass was growing from below a stepping stone, so we lifted it up.  We found ant-land.  We saw tunnels and ants running around.  We saw larva and as soon as we lifted the stone the ants scurried over to the larva and carried it deeper under ground.  It was cool and gross at the same time--perfect entertainment for a young man.  They were working hard and fast.

see the larva?

Then two nights ago--Pickle found a few ants in our kitchen.  We looked closely and realized they were just a few of the many parading through our home.  We followed the parade backwards and learned they were marching along the crack of our wood floor and carpet, along the wall, the crease at the bottom of the stairs, again along more wood floor and carpet to the front door.  That's a long way for those little legs!  Those ants don't stop!

(Sorry, insect-lovers, but armed with super-spray, we happily killed them all. )

Ants don't sleep.  Ants don't stop.  They keep going, keep marching, keep working.  They jump into action when a crisis arises and the babies need to be carried below.  The are willing to walk and walk and walk in search of some crumbs.

We are not ants.  I know you know this.  But do you?  How do you live your life?  Do you act like an ant?  Do you think you just can't stop?  Are you afraid of stopping?  Feel guilty for it?  Do you only stop when the super-spray of exhaustion or illness takes you down?

We've been talking a lot about stopping at church lately.  We've been talking about Sabbath.  Our pastor has been leading us down a road of exploring the gift of Sabbath that could just revolutionize our lives and relationships with God.

I can't wait to share more with you on this...but first:  Are you too much like an ant?  Do you practice Sabbath?  Talk to me!