develop my spirituality

Since it is an ongoing sort of thing. I’m marking it as done to make room for other goals, but it will always be an important part of my life. I feel like I’ve refocused on this since I’ve had it on my list, so I think this has served its purpose.

The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg. I highly recommend this book. It gave me so much to think about. It talks about “disciplines” and how to change your thinking about those – to move from simply mechanically fitting praying, Bible study, and the like into your life into actually thinking of them as training and as a way of life rather than as a means to an end. I don’t think I’m expressing this very well, but I love this book and I’ll read it again, I’m sure.

I’m trying meditation now. I just started this week.

I’m starting to read the Bible…again. I’ve decided to start with the New Testament.

I’m trying to pray every night now.

I’m also reading a spiritual book of some sort each month. This month I’m reading 52 Ways to Know Your Bible Better.

I am going to be reading spiritual books, finding a church, and working on my prayer life. I’m really excited about this process, so I hope that it will have a huge impact on my spiritual life as well as the other areas that I will be focusing on as well. The first book I’ve chosen is The Unmistakable Touch of Grace by Cheryl Richardson. I think I’m going to follow that up with How to Keep a Spiritual Journal by Ronald Klug.

I really need to refocus. I’m having all sorts of issues in my life right now and I think that refocusing on my spiritual life would bring me comfort and perhaps help me find the solutions that I need for various areas in my life. So, this week, I’m going to shift the priority for this and put it higher on my list.

I journal regularly, but I’ve been thinking about adding a spiritual journal to my daily routine. I don’t know if I can keep two up, but I don’t think I want to have the spiritual side in my regular journal. I think it would be nice to have the separate journal to read back through.

But I still need to keep working. I have gotten back into reading my Bible, and managed to read it every morning for 9 days in a row. I know that isn’t stellar, but it is remarkable for me these days. I’ve checked out some inspirational books on parenting/guiding your children from a Christian perspective so I’m going to add reading that to my day as well. Small steps maybe, but I’m glad I’m finally moving toward my goal.

Of course, this really will be an ongoing thing. I’ve started reading the Bible again. I’m starting with the New Testament this time; I have such trouble getting through the early Old Testament, sadly. Anyway, I hope I can keep this going. My goal is to read it every morning. Maybe as I work on my motivation level, that will help with this goal as well!