Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

What’s a little while? (3)

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In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
1 Peter 5:10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.5.10.NLT

This was the verse of the day recently and I when I saw it, I immediately understood what it meant. I definitely experienced this. When you are in the midst you don’t know what a little while looks like. It certainly doesn’t feel like a little while, it can feel like years when it may have only been a few months. I wrote a post a while back Putting my suffering on display and I talked about how we don’t suffer for ourselves, God wants to use it not only for our good but for someone else. That’s fair. I feel better knowing that my suffering is not in vain. When I saw this verse I saw a promise. It reminds me that my suffering won’t last forever. One day I will be better and not only that, God will restore, support, strengthen me and put me on firm foundation. That sounds like I will be in a better position than when I started. I just wish my timing was like Gods timing.

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This is bogus, but I get it. God’s timing is not mine. He knows exactly how long I have been in any current situation and he sees the end before I do. I am glad that he is walking along side me as I go through each situation. When the old people say trouble won’t last always we have the proof right there in Gods word and I can appreciate that.

*This would be a good verse to do a SOAP bible study method if you haven’t done one in a while.

Bored with your prayer life? (2)

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If you pray a couple times a day then you may feel like you are using the same prayers over and over. I know I do and I feel bad. I don’t want God to get annoyed because my prayers are routine and flat. I read online a few years ago that one way to add some variety to your prayer time was to use worship songs. It is much easier for me to remember the words to worship songs sometimes than it is to remember scripture. Lots of worship songs have scripture in them anyway. I went back and started copying the lyrics of my favorite worship songs and it has vastly improved my prayer life. I am not as bored doing it and I feel better giving God a little more as well. Sometimes when I am stressed and can’t recall a scripture I think back to those songs and those lyrics help calm me down.

I listen to a lot of worship music so there isn’t any one song or artist that I go too but I do try to find songs that describe how God is and talking about his character. I want God to know I recognize how awesome he is, even though I can’t always find the words to convey that.

These are just some examples if you click on the link the lyrics are scrolling across the screen.

 How Great is our God -Jonathan Nelson
Because of who you are-Vicki Yohe
Nobody Greater-Vashawn Mitchell
Holy is our God- James Fortune

Total Praise-Richard Smallwood

Oh Lord, How Excellent-New Jersey Mass Choir

 

 

31 posts in 31 days (1)

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Hello out there,

Its already July. Can you believe it? I certainly cannot. It feels like the days are just flying by. We are officially over half way through the year. Do you feel like you are accomplishing the things you set out to do this year? I feel decent about my goals. I know there is always more that I could be doing, particularly when it comes to this blog. So I am issuing a challenge to do myself to do 31 posts in 31 days. It may not be 1 post a day because technically I would already be behind. By any means necessary at the end of this month I want to have 31 posts.

This will certainly be a challenge because sometimes I don’t feel like I have content for a post everyday but I would like to try. I won’t ever know, if I don’t try. This will help me expand my writing and give me more practice in general. It will also help me be more intentional about when and what I am writing. It sounded like a good idea in my head, so I am going for it.

Any writers out there that have done a post a day challenge? Any tips on content when you don’t feel inspired? Please leave any good tips in the comments.

Wish me luck,

Dominique

Galatians 5:24

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Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
Galatians 5:24 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.5.24.NLT

This is a another one of my favorites. I just discovered this verse this year but it has been pivotal in my spiritual growth. What part of your sinful nature have you nailed to the cross? What have you decided deserves less of your time? It’s a hard process to look at your actions and say I’m not going to be that way anymore, especially if you have been that way for years and years. When God tells you its time to grow up, it’s time to grow up and that is essentially what happened to me. Things that used to interest me no longer bring me pleasure. I can tell because I would be engaged in those activities and they didnt feel the same. At some point you have to draw the line in the sand and declare who do you belong too? Do you belong to Christ or do you belong to the world?

Job 13:15

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Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.
Job 13:15 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/job.13.15.NIV

This is one of my favorite verses. Many times in my life I thought God was slaying. I didn’t understand what he was doing or why. Sometimes the what would come together but the why would remain elusive. The why doesn’t really matter though. I know I am not going through half the things Job went through and God proved himself faithful then.

I like that I will surely defend my ways to his face. God isn’t afraid of confrontation or our feelings. I like that. It shows that he really wants to be our friend and not just our father. He knows what I am thinking anyway so I might as well get it out.

Things tend to always find a way to come together, better than I thought or could have imagined. God is good All the time.Even when we don’t understand, even when don’t like it, he is good. I’m so glad I have this verse as a reminder. It’s never as bad as I think it is. God won’t play me and he won’t play you either.

It’s not you, its me

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Such a cliche right? I know but cliches are well known for a reason. It definitely fits my situation.

I have been pretty M.I.A most of the winter and spring. I usually hideout during the winter just because it’s cold and get over that post holiday hump but this year was different.

So many people had awesome things going on around me, new babies, new jobs, new houses and we didn’t have anything new happening. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing or surprising. We have been cruising in a good space for a while, we have found a good rhythm. Its hard to admit you are jealous or envious of your friends or family or coworkers. I don’t want to use the word envious or jealous because those are usually described as negative emotions. It’s more I’m happy for you and sad for me. Nobody wants that kind of energy at their birthday party, housewarming, BBQ, etc. I never want to be a Debbie Downee when I go somewhere so I just decided to stay away. That probably wasnt the best way to do it but hey we do what we know.

I know somebody who has had to watch other people around her have kids for years and she has been nothing but supportive. She is older than me so maybe it takes years to grow to that level of maturity. I admire that because I definitely couldn’t do it. I am not there yet but I’m working on it. God is making it more and more uncomfortable to be in this box. I haven’t been to a baby shower in years but now the people having babies are getting closer and closer to me. No choice but to go. I’m also trying to grow. I know I should be doing better, it is just hard.

The next time you haven’t heard from someone you care about in a while, reach out. I appreciate all the invites I got even though I wasn’t going.

The biggest reason now that’s holding me back from jumping back into the fray of where I used to hang out is because I don’t want to explain what I have been doing or why I wasn’t around.

That’s probably selfish of me. Would you feel like you wanted an explanation? Would you accept its not you, it’s me?

Tempted by the devil

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Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.

1 Peter 5:8‭-‬9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.5.8-9.NLT

The devil never tempts us with things we don’t like. I have been dreaming about things I used to do, activities I have given up. I haven’t thought about them in months and then I have like 3 dreams back to back about it. Definitely kind of crazy. This verse of the day really made me think like this must be a warning from God.I am supposed to be reading Job this week but I really don’t want to. That whole story started because the devil wanted to mess with him, prove a point to God. Now I know God allowed it but he still was testing him, threw his name out there to see what would happen. I hope God isn’t testing me. I am no Job or Jesus. He was tested too. I may fall back into temptation. Maybe, maybe not. I certainly hope not. It is easy for me to rationalize when I want to do something. I have some free time coming up and idle hands are the devils playground. I am definitely going to stay aware and prayed up.

Broken

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Broken-
having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order 

(of a person) having given up all hope; despairing.

I used to think I was broken using both definitions. That I was living a lie, that I was going out in the world and acting like everything was ok when it wasn’t. I felt like something inside of me was broken and could not be fixed. I had a hole in my heart that was irreparable. I tried a lot of this but nothing could fill it, not partying, not work, not my friends, not my husband, everything I was trying to do wasn’t working.

So in my last resort I turned to God. I’m glad I did. I learned I’m not broken. God made me this way. He has plans for me that are good. I didn’t always believe that or understand but I stayed in the word. It made a huge difference on my outlook in life. There is beauty in my brokenness. I wouldn’t have grown in my relationship with God if I wasn’t broken. Everyday is practice in reminding myself that I have to meet no one expectations but my own.

If you feel broken just know you don’t have to stay that way. There is a way out. You won’t be able to do it on your own, not long lasting. Getting out of your head and closer to God is the only long term solution and potentially seeing a therapist.

Updated: since I wrote the above words Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have both committed suicide. This has sparked debate about what role does prayer and God specifically play in mental health. I think that God is our first resource in working on our mental health. Getting into your bible, prayer, fasting, meditating, it’s all an important part of the healing process. We can’t do it on our own and believing you can may be a fatal mistake. You need tools to overcome things you have been through. Seek help if you need it.

New series alert!

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I had been wanting to do summaries of books in the bible for a while and I read some really awesome ones online. I didn’t think my mine were good enough so I didn’t go ahead with the idea. I was trying to make them too much like the ones I saw and not do it in my voice. The old testament can be boring but there are some interesting perspectives and lessons we can glean from it. I have been doing a bible in a year plan and was going to start this way back when I was in Numbers. I talked myself out of it. I didn’t want my readers who weren’t into God to leave. I didn’t want to appear to churchy. Isn’t that insane? It’s a blog about God!

Bible-reading-plan

My goal is to help people with their spiritual growth. Reading your bible is one way to do that. Its really the first step in moving up in your spiritual maturity. If you read my thoughts on a particular book you may want to go back and read some of it yourself. Bare with me as I try this out. The bible has so much to unpack, I don’t want to overwhelm myself. This will be good for me and good for you too. I’m excited to see where this series go. I haven’t fleshed it all out yet but now that I told you, I can’t back out now. Thanks readers for just by your presence holding me accountable.

First post in this series will be the first week of July. I currently just finished 2 Chronicles. I will probably start there but I may go back as well to some of the books that I missed.

Guilty

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via Daily Prompt: Guilty

I know this daily prompt is late but it was too good for me to pass up so I’m posting it anyway. Update: since writing this post I have learned that the daily prompt from WordPress is now gone. (gasp!) I loved the daily word prompt. It really stretched me. I am still going to do one, I just need to figure out how I want to do it. If anyone knows why they decided to stop let me know.

Guilty-a feeling of having done wrong or failed in an obligation.

Guilt is a powerful thing. I have been trying to live as guilt free as possible because I used to carry around a lot of guilt. Guilt for things I had done in the past, guilt for the way I handled situations, just guilt, guilt, guilt. I wrote about some solutions to getting rid of guilt in a post from the beginning of the year. Its worth a read if you have some time. I also talked about Condemnation vs. Conviction. That is the big thing with guilt. Some of it can be good, like conviction. Conviction lets you know you are doing something wrong. Condemnation is bad because it takes you away from God. Guilt is like condemnations little brother. You don’t typically have one without the other.

Guilt-does-to-the-soul

Guilt is not of God. Don’t do it to yourself. Don’t let anyone else make you feel guilty either. The whole point of confession is that you don’t have to carry this burden anymore. Guilt is carrying around the burden and Jesus is a burden bearer. Psalm 68:19.

Resources

http://www1.cbn.com/keys-powerful-living-overcoming-guilt

Guilt vs. Shame [Infographic]

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com