Dropout you’re not cut out to lead the group!
Ha! I’m a music junkie and I can’t help changing lyrics to fit my mood sometimes!
I recently began a wonderful devotional, written by two new friends, called An Abundant Place. I was reluctant to join the launch team and commit to actually doing the devotion. You see, as full of the love of Christ as I am, I absolutely stink at starting and completing devotional studies.
Crazy right? Being a book nerd and a writer, you’d think it’s be easy to start and finish a devotion. NOT!!! For some strange reason, my brain simply will not stick with one long enough to finish. Funnily enough, it’s always at the halfway point that my brain conveniently forgets I’m in the middle of a devotion. And the rest is history.
So, you can imagine my extreme trepidation jumping on board with this launch team. I have an unfortunate pattern that I didn’t want to cop to let alone display to other people! My perpetual need to disprove my theories about myself forced me to not only join the launch team, but to also throw myself into any and everything possible to help this book succeed.
Well, I dove in. Fresh book before me. Perfect, unused journal beside that. And a brand new pen just waiting to takes notes. You see, this beautiful hardcover devotional has places to write in it. Like actual lines with prompts and everything. To a normal human, the choice is simple….use the lines to collect your thoughts. I am not normal.
Writing in books, well, writing, highlighting, underlining, doodling, basically any marring of books sends me into spasms. It’s not pretty. Hence, the journal.
Timidly, I began the devotional. Alone. In my office. Door closed in hopes my family would hopefully leave me in peace. By the end of the first devotional, one thing was clear….I would actually finish this devotional.
Instantly, I was pulled to a serene place. Almost, as if I were chilling in my yard, sun on my face, breeze in my hair, and a bottle of water at my feet. My mind was at peace. I was absorbed into the words before me, but it was more.
I couldn’t remember the last time a devotion actually pulled out a sense of peace from within me. Typically, I do them to say I’m doing them. Like part of my Christian checklist. I find one that seems interesting, start and never finish.
But, not this time. I find myself drawn to my daily time with An Abundant Place. Instead of simply doing it to check it off my list, I do it to spend a few moments at peace. A retreat in the palm of my hands. Now, as we trudge threw the ridiculously blistering frigid temps of January, I can climb inside a warm retreat and hear the Creator speaking to me.
There haven’t been many devotionals that actually draw me closer to God. Some evoked thought. Others actually bored me. A few taught me something. I’ll never look at Leviticus the same again!
This one makes me really pause and look inward. To actually pause and reflect. Something my brain always craves but never gets. A retreat in the palm of my hands. I actually wrote in specific times each day to spend in An Abundant Place. Something tells me I’ll actually finish this one. Stay tuned…
To join me in this wonderful new study: https://www.amazon.com/Abundant-Place-Daily-Retreats-Woman/dp/0736976434
