RESOURCES
Soul care is a gift you can begin offering yourself immediately. Whether or not I join you on your journey, these resources reflect my recommendations for the practice and discipline of developing a rhythm that focuses on your spiritual formation. Start by picking one that stands out to you and slowly begin integrating it into your life. As you feel God calling you deeper, try adding more. From time to time, you may feel led to move from one practice to another. This isn't about rules, and it's definitely not about overwhelming yourself with more to do. The spiritual practices are about helping you grow in intimacy with God, which should inevitably produce more rest, peace, and joy.
For those of you who may be questioning if spiritual practices and disciplines in the pursuit of spiritual formation, or sanctification, align with Biblical guidelines and principles, please take some time to read this article on Relieving Evangelical Anxieties Over Spiritual Formation.
There are a plethora of incredible resources already available to help walk you through how to do these practices and disciplines. There's no need for me to repeat what they've already said, so I am going to include links where you can explore those offerings. My goal is to potentially introduce you to ways of engaging with God that you may have never heard of, and provide some insight into how they are practical in your faith journey and day-to-day living. The one caution I will give you for any of these disciplines is that doing them for the sake of doing them is not the purpose. Going through the motions will not make you more holy. The goal is transformation into the image of Christ for the sake of others (progressive sanctification), through a deepening relationship with God facilitated by the practices.
01
Prayer through journaling
Many resources specifically discuss how to do prayer journaling, Bible journaling, spiritual journaling, and so on. Most of them are detailed and organized in some way that may feel rigid if you aren't used to or appreciate following a particular pattern. Journaling "rules" may not work for you, and that's ok! The beauty of prayer through journaling is that there is no "right" or "wrong" way of doing it! You can write long passages, short ones, in-between ones, bullet points, or draw instead of write. Whatever you choose to do, think of it as a way to talk to God or to observe what God is doing in your life. You may not realize it until later, but every word you write or picture you draw will be a prayer to God.
Personally, for the bulk of my faith journey, I've never given much thought to what or how I am journaling. I just write. What comes out has definitely changed over the years as my relationship with God has deepened, and I've matured, but for me, the less I think about the structure of my journaling, the more real I am with God. What I've found is that the overflow of my heart poured out on the pages tends to reflect many of the recommendations offered for journaling. That's not to say I never follow any kind of guide, though. There have definitely been seasons where I needed a prompt or guideline to help me think more deeply or understand what I needed to do to cooperate with the Holy Spirit's work in my life.
Prayer through journaling can help you:
Learn how to apply Scripture to everyday life and live the Word of God.
Cast your cares on God by writing down your anxieties and handing them over to Him.
Find a true place of refuge with God.
Help you slow down your pace of life.
Bring order to chaos.
Become more aware of how God has responded to your prayers and remember the ways He has worked in your life.
Learn how you react or feel when particular situations elicit a change or response in your body or emotions.
To help you notice patterns in your faith journey and areas of your life where God has been progressively healing and refining you.
02
Lectio Divina
Once you learn the format for lectio divina, you'll be surprised by how many applications it has outside of scripture! Two other types of divina are audio and visio, and I've even heard of people doing it with taste and smell. Something to keep in mind with lectio divina is that God may be speaking to you through the text in a way that relates to your everyday life, but whatever is revealed will still align with the overarching message of scripture.
The first time I remember doing lectio divina, I was in a master's program in my late 30s with a primarily 20- something cohort. My wardrobe was dated, and I was feeling frumpy. My best attempts at trying to make my clothing appear more stylish often failed. The passage being used was Matthew 6:25-34. The primary sentence that stood out to me was: "And why do you worry about clothes?" (vs 28). The words "wear" and "clothe(s)" show up six times in the passage. As I went through the four steps of lectio divina, God began asking me that question directly, and He wondered why I cared more about what my peers thought about me than what He thought about me. Then, I began wondering the same. That one reflection began to shift my focus while I was at school. It gave me more awareness of how God sees me, and helped me to redirect my attention back to my studies rather than being more concerned about other people's thoughts regarding my clothing and appearance.
Lectio Divina can help you:
Slow down. We live in a fast-paced, busy world. Practicing lectio divina can help you move at a pace that helps you notice and be positioned to receive something from God without passing it by.
To engage with scripture in a way that is not about acquiring more knowledge, but instead, listening to and interacting with God through it.
Pay attention to aspects of scripture that you may normally move over quickly.
Recognize other ways that God may reveal something or speak to you once you become more familiar with regularly sitting with scripture through the practice of lectio divina.
Help you develop an intimate relationship with God.
Develop a faith that feels more lived as your awareness expands for how scripture applies to your everyday life.
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Sabbath Rest
Coming Soon!
