My Devotional Time
I like to switch up the format of my Bible time pretty frequently, and what I'm currently doing I absolutely LOVE! Lets get talking about what that routine actually is...
I love the Psalms; reading one each day helps put my mind in a prayerful place before I move onto the next part of my devotional.
It was on my heart to memorize more scripture. Memorization doesn't come easily to me, so I came up with a method that does work for me. I have a journal that I've written a whole lot of verse references in and slowly I'm working my way down the list, memorizing the verses.
Each day on a new page in my journal, I write out the verse I'm working on & repeat it out-loud a few times until I can basically repeat it back to myself, even if it's not word for word. Then, I journal my thoughts about it. Sometimes it's an application that I write down, other times it's a prayer, or sometimes it's just me writing about how the verse relates to how I'm feeling or something I'm struggling with. After that, I leave a few lines blank at the bottom of the page where I re-write the verse one more time.
Finally, I spend time praying; lately I've been trying to start my prayer with a list of gratitudes. I think it's really important to praise & thank God, but so often it's easy to skip over that and begin requesting things. So, each morning when I pray I thank God for my hardworking husband, for our marriage, for our home, for the way He always provides for us, for our cars that start-up and transport us safely, for our jobs, for our families & friends- I could keep going, but you get the idea. I do all this out loud, by the way, because if I pray silently I get really distracted! Anyway, after my heart is in a grateful place, I go on to requests or sometimes that's when I just talk to God; I tell him how I feel and often I end up getting really emotional. I don't usually enjoy being emotional (who does?!), but I've actually come to love it in this aspect because being vulnerable in front of God is something that we all are, but we don't like to believe it. If I journaled a prayer, I like to read it again during my verbal prayer time as well so it lingers in my mind longer.
Once I'm finished praying, my Bible time for the day is usually complete. Then on the next day (and for however many days), I'll do the same thing with the same verse until I have it memorized. When I move onto a new verse, I recite each previously-memorized verse every day so they remain fresh in my memory.
*At first I was worried that my thoughts about the verse would basically be the same each day, since I'm dwelling on one verse for multiple days and journaling about it. But, when I just focus on the words and really contemplate what the verse is saying, it brings a new meaning and lesson to me each morning*
That whole devotional process was a bit difficult to explain, hopefully it was easily understood! I've attached some photos to (hopefully) make it a little easier to understand, so click through them if you need some clarification!
If you have a certain devotional routine that you like or that you're interested to try, I would love to hear about it!!!