Time – Fanning the Flames Part 4.
The Time that we spend with God will change the way that we behave. Wendy describes how her morning routine has evolved.
Spending Time With God
In my previous podcast about the Five Ways to Fan the Flames of Faith, I shared the first 3 letters in the acronym F-A-I-T-H. Today, let’s talk about the letter ‘T’. “T” is for time.
Something wonderful happened when I began to take my quiet time with God seriously. I’ll let you in on it after I explain what I mean by ‘T’ for time.
Another fabulous way to fan the flames of your faith is to spend regular time alone with God. I’m blessed to love journaling. When my children were little, I often wrote in the evenings after they were tucked into bed for the night. As they got older, I began to get up before everyone else, because I find peace and quiet delicious.
Just as we need privacy to have an intimate conversation with a friend or spouse, we need uninterrupted time with the creator of the universe, too. Knowing I needed to get up early helped me avoid staying up late the night before. If we make our quiet times our priority, we’ll reap the benefits of fullness of joy and fervent faith. Whatever time works for us, we need to ‘just do it.’ Making dates and keeping them revitalizes our relationship with God. He wants us to enjoy Him, to delight in Him.
Change of Routine
Several years ago, my quiet times came to an abrupt stop when my husband’s work schedule changed. His work day started later in the morning and he stayed up later at night too. I was used to him making our morning coffee before he left for work.
Now, please don’t hate me when I tell you this, but he used to bring a hot cup of coffee to my bedside each and every morning for years. And for years I had my quiet time just after he left for work. When his routine changed, so did mine, and I don’t consider myself a morning person. After a few days of sleeping in, the Holy Spirit seemed to say to me, “why don’t you make your own morning coffee and go sit in your writing room for a quiet time?”
“Me? Me? Get out from under my warm blankets before I’ve had a cup of coffee? I don’t know about that. Hum, I guess I could give it a try.” So, I placed a hot water bottle in my writing chair that night. I covered it up with my homemade lap quilt and set our bedside alarm to wake me up two hours before my husband has to get ready for work. I wasn’t sure if I’d succeed, but I had a plan in place. There was no way my osteoarthritis aches and pains were going to make me afraid to leave the warmth of my bed.
Looking Like a Zombie
The first few days I probably look like a zombie as I trundle down to my kitchen to prepare coffee. My husband likes his jitter juice cold, so I made one for him too and placed it on his desk as I passed by while carrying my own steaming mug of morning magic. I settled into my riding chair and glanced at the journal, pen and Bible I’d arranged on the side table.
The warmth of the chair and lap quilt rewarded me for making and keeping a date with my Maker. This simple act of obedience resulted in me establishing a longer and more fruitful, quiet time. For not only did I begin to read, pray, and journal longer, I discovered I was now perfectly primed to write blog posts, devotionals and manuscripts.
After My Quiet Time
Each day after my quiet time, I pick a verse, wrote a poem for it, and scheduled it to appear on my Facebook page the next morning. I also included some of my nature photography with each post. People began to notice my Facebook posts and sometimes they shared them or commented about how the scripture verse had inspired them.
If you’re curious about these posts, check my site at wendylmcdonald.com and you’ll find links to my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages.
The Time I Spent With God
Anyways, my writing life grew in proportion to the time I spent with God. The inconvenience of a change of routine became the convenient way God drew me closer to Himself through an even better routine. It also helped my desire to be an inspirational writer, gain some social media ground.
Doors began to open because I opened the door of my writing room each morning and spent time alone with the Author of Life.
Do you have a gift God wants you to develop and share with others?
I’d like to close with a poem I wrote, especially for you, and me:
When time alone with God is made a priority,
We reap eternal benefits. Because we have believed.
And spiritual blessings abound. When His love fills our hearts
Because we’ve submitted to Christ at each day start.
How do you fan the flame of faith? Why do you think that it is so difficult to forgive? What do you think is the connection between forgiveness and faith? Contact us at HopeStreamRadio, or comment below.
Wendy Macdonald
Wendy is writer, poet, photographer, and contributor to our Christian internet radio station, HopeStreamRadio.
Read and hear more from Wendy L. Macdonald on the contributor’s page or on her personal website.
Wendy’s show, “Walking With Hope” airs on HopeStreamRadio, providing observations and insights from both her life experience, and her knowledge of God.
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