Since it’s our mission to help people connect to God, I thought I would share a practice that has put passion and excitement into my relationship with God. I try to have a little prayer time every day right when I wake up (yes, it’s a constant struggle to make the time). I spend on few minutes on each element of the Lord’s Prayer:
- think about His “name” or character; I have a list of names for God; or sometimes I watch nature out my window really carefully
- read Bible and reflect on how I can do His will
- write down a couple prayer requests on index cards (daily bread)
- I post big (and not too private) answers to prayer on this bulletin board at home. Before I did this, I would ask God for something and then not even notice when He did something. Now, I see His hand much more frequently. It reminds me of that Bible verse that says God loves to give His children gifts, just like a regular Dad does.
- reflect on previous day and ask forgiveness for where I fell short
- forgive anybody who hurt my feelings
- think about my upcoming day and how I can live it faithfully
August 13, 2008 at 10:38 pm |
Hi Nancy, I absolutely love the prayer bulletin board! I’m definitely going to start one myself, so thanks for the inspiration.
I find the description of your church intriguing and just may pay a visit once you get up and running. I’m an empty-nester too and best describe myself as a Christian Hippie. I love the Lord with all my heart but haven’t had much luck finding a church where I feel comfortable. I meet with a few friends in a very loosely structured house church but would love to find a larger community as well. I have been heavily influenced by some of the young Christian “revolutionaries, especially Shane Claiborne who wrote an amazing book called the “Irresistible Revolution which focuses on social activism as a way of living the Gospel. I live in Hartford and would like to see churches here become more involved in the life of the city. I will keep checking the website and look forward to meeting you at some point.. God Bless, Robin
August 14, 2008 at 2:29 pm |
Hey Robin – I am very excited someone I don’t know read my blog! You made my day
I think house churches are great. I’m in a group of about 12 women in my neighborhood who have been meeting together for almost 10 years now. We’ve been through cancer, adoptions, childrearing problems, etc, trying to live lives that please God. We are always there for each other -so wonderful. But I LOVE music and can really only get that in a larger church. I can’t wait for our new church to start!
A good day for you to visit would be January 25, 10 am, 960 Main (near corner of Talcott and Main in GFox building). That will be our first adult service when I will preach on the vision of the church. The Fall services will be fun too but they are targeting families with elementary aged children.
Now I’m going to check out that book – I want to be a contributor in the city but thought our church could decide together what to do once we get rolling. I look forward to meeting you too!
August 14, 2008 at 2:34 pm |
Oh Robin – I forgot to ask – how did you find our website? I can’t even get it to come up in Google. Thanks.
December 2, 2008 at 3:59 pm |
Robin, Robin, wherever you are . . . I am on the last few pages of Irrisistible Revolution. WOW – very challenging. I find myself writing “agree!” or “naive” throughout the margins – but the ratio of agree to naives is 8:2
THANK YOU for telling me about that book. It has already influenced my financial choices and God is using it to challenge me to think hard about economic justice. I love it when people buck the norms and take risks to live out what Jesus taught.