This is the journal for a couple weeks ago (pretty much a month ago now).
Journal 6
For the week of July 10
I have really felt God’s presence this week as I continue to
learn and grow.
In this week I am amazed at how much I have grown with God
and felt God. I have never been a big Bible reader, except for one time in high
school when I tried to read the Bible in a year and got through Genesis,
Exodus, and maybe a couple other books. My prayer life also was typically
confined to prayer led by other people, usually on Sundays, until more recently
since I’ve been in college. So as you can see, I have never had a strong
grounding in these disciplines until more recently. College is when I realized
I had to really own my faith and there’s more to it than what I thought so I
tried a few times to pray before bed or before meals or do a devotional for
lent. Usually these practices lasted for a little while but eventually I either
ran out of material (the devotional) or I just started to forget and make other
excuses. This summer though, has felt like a solid change.
In June I picked up one of the devotionals at the church for
the summer months and started to read it each day. The first couple of days I
was lackadaisical about doing it so I didn’t think I needed to do it every day.
Then something hit me and I realized that I should be reading the devotional
and scripture everyday because it is how I am going to grow my relationship
with God and learn more about God. Since
that day I have read the devotional every day, preferably right when I wake up.
(What better way to wake up, than with God?!)
I’ve already mentioned prayer a little bit too but I would
like to add how I’ve improved with it. During my spiritual disciplines class I
made prayer the discipline I wanted to practice intensely. I half succeeded at
this by praying before meals a little bit more and improving my prayer
communication with God a little more but it wasn’t enough. Howard-Miami is a
church that prays, a lot. Every meeting starts with prayer concerns and a
prayer and people depend on this church praying for them. They do more than
just talk about praying for people. This has empowered me and supported me more
than they know. I am amazed at how much more comfortable I am becoming with
praying during my time.
I find both of these growths exciting and it energizes me to
continue them after I leave here.
Just the other day I was doing some of my required reading
from the book recommended by Sarah called Purpose-Centered
Youth Ministry written by Mike King. I had a wonderful God moment as I was
reading outside under the maple tree. It was around two o’clock in the
afternoon and King’s chapter was titled “Trusting the Holy Spirit with Your
Ministry”. At this point in the chapter, King is talking about an experience of
his own that included experiences of fire, water, and wind (91). I was sitting
outside under the maple tree at home reading the section about wind. King
speaks of a particular camp-type experience, feeling the nearness of God and
breathing it in causing the youth to encounter the presence of God (92).
As I was reading, the breeze around me started to pick up
and just continued to a hearty, but non-threatening wind. It was an enjoyable
wind, with strength, but not intimidating. I was so thankful for the wind. I
believe the Holy Spirit gave me the opportunity to connect with God, learning,
and scripture in that time. I will conclude with a scripture King includes in
this section, John 3:8, which says “The wind blows where it should and you hear
the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So
it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.”
