GIVEAWAY TODAY! And 2 questions to jumpstart your time with Jesus!

Hello Friends!

I am so excited for today!   This afternoon, I am going to be marking all my garage sale items with brightly colored stickers.  I am not sure why this is so exciting to me…? maybe because I don’t get to play with stickers much anymore?

 I am REALLY EXCITED to share with you the fabulous giveaway we are having today…keep reading to find out what it is!

I am also thrilled to have heard from some of you about how this series:  Why I Spend Time with Jesus  Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, has been an encouragement to you.

I want to take a few moments to talk about a few practical ways you can structure or not structure your time with Jesus so it is AWESOME!

Think about these 2 questions:

1.  How do I best learn and retain information, whether in school,  job training ect…?  By moving, doing, saying, hearing, or seeing? Or some combination of these learning styles?

2.  What activities do I enjoy doing? These are the kinds of activities you do naturally without anyone requiring you to do it.  Where do I enjoy going?  These are the kind of places you feel free to be yourself.

Got your answers?  Great!  You already have uncovered some important information about how you can best connect with Jesus.

Huh?  Understanding my answers to these questions has helped me connect with Jesus better!

Charity’s answers:

1.  How I Learn Best:  Moving, doing and saying information out loud.  When I was in college lectures were killers for me, because unless they involved stopping and asking the students to interact with the material or concepts, I would get completely lost, either in my own day dreams or my own confusion.

I discovered the BEST WAY for me to learn was by  my body and brain interacting with the material.  If I had a book to read for literature class, I would read it on the bicycle or elliptical at the gym, and I would remember the details much better, than if I had sat at a desk.

I am pretty sure I was a distraction to some of my college roommates when they heard me singing, shouting or making hand motions to help me remember, Biology, History, Philosophy, and Math ect….   No matter how ridiculous it may have looked, without connecting my mouth and body to the material, I could look at it over and over again or hear someone else talk about it, and it would never connect with me.

The similarities in my relationship with Jesus are uncanny.  If I am having a hard time sitting still and reading the Bible I will pace around my room and say the scripture out loud over and over, or go to the gym and ride the bike while I read the Bible. I memorize scripture by using hand motions connected to certain words. When I am talking to God and feel like I am hearing or sensing nothing, I will go on a walk or run and usually as soon as my limbs start moving I will begin to hear what He is saying.

Think about how YOU learn best

Do you need visuals?  Try reading the Bible, and drawing or painting a picture afterwards of what you just read.

Do you learn best by hearing?  Try listening to podcasts or the Bible on your ipod.

Key Point:  God made you to learn and function best in a certain way.  When we are studying the Word of God and praying we are not obligated or commanded for it to look a certain way.  The key is to be connecting with the Word of God and Jesus through prayer (talking to Jesus), daily.  He also made you and knows how you can best connect with Him and His Word, ask Him for ideas!  He will help you!

2.  Activities I enjoy:  Writing, Making Crafts, Decorating, Outdoor activities, theater.  Place I feel alive and free to be myself:  My house, aesthetically beautiful and clean places, coffee shops, bookstores, the beach, and outdoors

The activities I enjoy involve creating, expressing and exploring.  That is who God made me to be.  No one told me to enjoy those things, I just do.

So how do enjoyable activities translate into connecting with Jesus?  I spend time with Him outdoors. I go on walks and talk to Him or listen to a podcast or worship music while I walk.  I look for any opportunity to spend time with Him in a beautiful outside place.  I journal, writing down my prayers to God.

I am drawn towards devotionals or books that explain the message and life of Christ in story form.  For example, I love the The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis.  The Narnia series has a story line and characters who reveal Biblical truth and God’s character.

I always sense God’s presence and delight over me when I am decorating or refinishing furniture.   With every paint stroke and rough I sand He teaches me about who He is: a God of beauty and the One who restores and redeems.

I like structure and I don’t like structure.  Too much structure stifles me, too little structure= laziness and unproductiveness. 

I have intentionally created some structure to my time with the Lord and also left room for things to be different from day to day.

My Structure: I spend time with the Lord first thing in the morning. I integrate Prayer, Worship and Bible reading/study into my time throughout the week.

Unstructured Part: is where I am or what I do.  Sometimes I sit in my “special chair” in our “pretty room” (aka guest room, that doesn’t see the typical traffic and mess the rest of our house does) that I often sit in to spend time with Jesus.

  I also love coffee shops and bookstores, so this morning I mixed it up and went to a coffee shop and spent time with Jesus there.  Why? because getting up early to spend time with Him can be hard.

Its easier to wake up, when I am excited about where I am going to be.  Its also easier for me to focus and be honest and genuine with the Lord when I am in a setting that is comfortable for me.

Key Point:   There are places you can go that you enjoy and feel more focused in.  If possible spend time with Jesus in those places, or create a space that brings those qualities you enjoy into a space in your home/apartment/dorm ect…

Mix it up.  It would be boring if my husband and I only ever went to the same place on a date.  Yes, we do have a few favorite date places, but we also try new places to keep our relationship thriving.  In the same way trying new settings or different devotional ideas can give us vibrancy in our relationship with Jesus.

Some people thrive in structure and others don’t.  We all need some kind of plan to make time with Jesus our number 1 priority.  But that plan will be different based on your personality and your season of life.

i.e.  I know several Moms who spend time with the Lord while their children are napping. As a college student my schedule changed almost every day, so I would spend time with the Lord at different times almost everyday, but I made it happen because I looked at my schedule in advance and decided when I would spend time with Him.

I want to hear about your reflections and ideas, and if you will  you may win our fabulous prize:  If you win I will send you either the ebook or one of those old school books with paper pages, your choice!

(Note:  Clarity with Charity is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. These are my amazon affiliate links, if you should decide to buy them, I receive a tiny percentage.)

Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas is an incredible book.  In it he explores 9 different paths that people will generally best connect to God through.  They are:  Naturalists, Sensates, Traditionalists, Ascetics, Activists, Caregivers, Enthusiasts, Contemplatives, and Intellectuals.

I loved this book because not only did it confirm how I best connect with the Lord, but it also helped me better understand how other people connect with the Lord in different but nonetheless profound ways.  For more information about Thomas’ pathways you may enjoy this book review. 

To Win:  Comment below with your  answers to Question #1 and #2 from the beginning of this post.  Want to earn an extra entry? Share this post via facebook, pinterest or twitter and tell me, “I SHARED!”  You have until Monday at midnight to enter!