If you were on Family Feud and the question was, “Practices Christians have to restore their soul.” I bet right after prayer you would name reading the Bible.
But if you’re honest it’s really not helping you rediscover your soul. Maybe you would say it feels more like a chore than something that breathes life into you.
Do you find it difficult to pray? Do you feel guilty about not praying more? Maybe you don’t know where to start. Maybe you know lots of templates and acrostics on “how” to pray, but at the end of the day there really isn’t a lot of praying going on.
Here is what I want to encourage you to do as you head into the fall. Start with praying about what matters most to you. You probably can think of lots of things that should matter to you…like the poor…political leaders. And because we don’t often pray about those things we feel guilty. We feel like a failure before we even start.
Summer is when people are looking for a good book to take on vacation and I often get requests for a recommendation from what I’ve read so far this year.
Above are the books I’ve read this year. 20 books in all. I’m not quite on the same pace of a book a week as last year but pretty close.
Have you ever questioned whether God was good? It’s one of the most important questions for you to settle about the nature of God.
Your answer will make the challenges of your life easier or more difficult.
Last week I shared with you 3 ways you can increase your joy. You can find them here. This week I want to finish up that list. So let’s jump right in.
Last week we looked at why you should be on the joy wagon. I want to give you 6 practical things you can do to increase joy every day of your life. I’ll give you the first 3 this week.
Here we go…
Would you say you are more joyful this year than last? I think one of the signs of spiritual maturity is an increasing level of joy.
It’s not easy to be growing in joy. With each passing year you develop a few more aches and pains. Maybe a door closed on a dream. Maybe someone you loved passed away. Each year brings new challenges and those challenges can make you cynical or more joyful.
My wife and I went to visit a friend last week who was having surgery at Sloan Kettering in NYC. After visiting with him it was time to head back to the train station. It was a beautiful day and I was excited about finally being outside after a long winter. Google Maps said it was only an hour walk from the hospital to the train station. No big deal. Right?!?
My wife was not so excited about an hour walk through the city. She kept saying this weird word…Uber…Uber… I’m thinking she must mean she is Uber-excited about walking. I tried to convince her it would be an adventure!
The other morning I woke up to a couple extra inches of snow which isn’t unusual in New York. After I had finished clearing the snow, I asked my wife if she wanted to go for a walk around the block.
Fresh snowfalls are beautiful as they blanket the landscape with a sense of purity. The scene is something every Christmas card and movie tries to capture.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where there are no good options? Every choice looks like a dead end. It begins to feel hopeless.
So many situations we find ourselves in can make us feel hopeless. So many situations can cause us to start panicking.
