I know I've told y'all this before but I have always struggled with having a consistent quiet time. I easily forget how important it is and I'm not reminded of just how crucial it is in my life until I start actually doing it again. Well ever since summer started I have had a consistent quiet time almost every morning and man, has it been incredible!! My life hasn't changed drastically since, but there's been so many little changes in my attitude, my outlook on life, and the way I live out each day that all add up and make me feel so stupid for the times I am too stubborn to have a quiet time. Simply giving The Lord 15 minutes or 30 minutes or an hour out of my day is nothing compared to the way He blesses me in return. All this being said, I just want to take this blog post and share with y'all how He's worked in me since I stopped being a baby about sacrificing time for Him.
First off, the fact that I have been motivated to get out of bed every morning at 9 (not even that early) and take my journal and bible out on my patio for a quiet time has nothin to do with me! Before school ended I realized how bad I had gotten at having quiet times and prayed that God would discipline me to start doing it and would increase my desire to grow in my relationship with Him. Low and behold, He was faithful as He always is in answering my prayer and so yeah that's awesome.
Anyway, the biggest difference having a quiet time has made in my everyday life has to do with how joyful I am. There's this quote that I've seen a million times that says "We have to choose joy and keep choosing it." While that might be true for some people, I learned that for me it's not that I have to choose joy...it's that I have to choose God. I have to choose Him over looking at my iphone for an hour when I wake up in the morning. I have to choose Him over getting a little more sleep. I have to choose Him over my own sinful desires every single day. And when I do this, joy comes naturally to me. Sure some days are harder than others to be joyful, but when I begin each day with God and devote my day to Him, it really isn't that hard to be joyful. It's so much easier to appreciate the blessings in my life when I have God on my mind and it's also easier to look at problems as a way to grow closer to Him. Before summer started, there was a long period where I barely ever had quiet time and when I did it wasn't very genuine or meaningful. I didn't appreciate my life or enjoy the people around me, but instead I was irritable, worrisome, and negative. I have found that it's hard to be that way when you have the God of all things beautiful and joyful as your best friend.
I'm glad God answered my prayer and pushed me to start spending time with Him, because ever since I've been living what I call "the joyful life." The joyful life to me is a life where days aren't wasted. Even if a day is spent being lazy, you're thankful that you have time to rest. Or when a day is spent working, you invest yourself into your work and seek out opportunities to glorify God. If a day goes poorly, you end it knowing that tomorrow is a clean slate and that through everything God is still good. If a day goes great, you know who to thank. Every day, good or bad, has little blessings throughout it and you recognize those blessings. You hug those you love tighter and shoot more smiles to strangers. You don't complain about petty things like the weather or the long wait at the Chick Fil A drive-thru. You recognize other people's beauty instead of their flaws and accept the fact that people are different than you. You know that your home is in Heaven and that worrying about worldly things is a waste of time. You don't get caught up on your mistakes but instead soak up God's grace and grow closer to Him in your weakness. When you live knowing how important spending time with God is, you live the joyful life. It isn't going to be perfect but it's the best kind of life you can live.
Thanks for reading! My prayer for you is that you devote time to God everyday and begin to see your life become the joyful life! :)
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13
Appropriate Fault in Our Stars quote because the movie rocked.
