A Day...A Week

If you read my blog much, you know that I like to try and post 5 days a week. (If you didn't know that...now you do)  Anyway, I have been stirring the last 24 hours trying to figure out what I had running around in my head  that really needed to be fleshed out into words.  Writing blog posts helps me.  It helps me put into words things I am thinking in a way that sometimes even challenges me to evaluate what I truly believe.

Today, however, is different.  I can't really come up with anything that I feel is noteworthy other than the journey I have been on for the last week month while. It used to be that in my life I spent a lot of time praying.  I don't necessarily mean the time on my knees, but I felt like I was talking to God quite frequently.  Then through the course of events, I gradually let it slip.  I began spending less and less time while convincing myself the time was still the same. 

A couple months ago I started reading my Bible more.  I knew I needed to and I always had wanted to spend more time, but wanting to in your head is not the same as wanting to in your heart and actually doing it.   Over a matter of weeks I began to really ponder about things different people were telling me.  I had a Pastor that I really admired for what he taught and how he taught telling me one thing and then another Pastor who I am challenged by telling me something totally different.  It was like they were in the middle of an argument on a public platform.  So finally I decided that was enough pushing from God for me to really dive in and begin reading. 

I started at the Beginning, even though I know they tell you not to.  After a while of doing that I added reading part of the New Testament along with it.  Slowly but surly I am making my way through the Bible, trying to read it as if it were the first time.  I am trying to ignore what I have always been taught the Bible says and see what conclusion I come up with.  I don't want to be deceived.

Last week, I decided to try something different on top of that.  While I am reading through the Bible still, I am also going to take a book at a time and really try to break it into sections and look for ways to apply it to my life.

So all of this is fine-and-dandy other than the fact that my prayer life has really been suffering.  So to help with my studying of God's word.

I say all of this because it is part of my story.  It is part of what I have been struggling with.  I can also say that since doing so I have noticed a difference.  It may not be a huge difference, or even one that people will notice, but I have noticed a difference in what God has been sharing with me and in ways that He has been dealing with me.

I can't say that all things are perfect, because I know they can't be.  However, I can say that things are different and I have been able to gain some insight into challenges I have been facing.