One New Thing I’m Doing This Year
Welcome to a new year! I can’t believe it’s 2019 already! I know everyone’s kids are going back to school (including mine) and we’re settling back in to work and home routines. There’s something so great about a fresh start, isn’t there? New calendars. New goals, new projects.
I want to share something I am doing this year, in case any of you want to take up this challenge as well. Now let’s acknowledge that to some degree, a new year is an artificial time for a new start. We really need to keep our eyes on what God is asking us to do and ways we should be growing at ALL times. But realistically, there’s something helpful about being prompted to take stock, right? Otherwise, it is easiest to just keep doing what we always do; we simply don’t ask ourselves whether something needs to change.
But God is always moving, always working—and we are called to join Him. The question is, are we listening?
This year, I’m circling back to doing something I used to do consistently: journaling during my prayer time. I have been thinking a lot these last few weeks about the importance of writing down what I feel God might be saying to me—whether it’s about the day ahead or the year ahead. So in the mornings as I pray, I have my journal open. I write down my prayers . . . and then write down the things I feel God is laying on my heart.
It’s not a perfect process—but these days when my thoughts and my days can be so scattered, it keeps me focused. And it has led not only to a greater sense of intimacy with the Lord, but also tangible ideas, prayers, suggestions and answers that I can go back and refer to later on.
By the way—I just have to mention this: if you want a new and beautiful journal for this new start, we now have our recently released (and absolutely gorgeous) Find Rest Journal. (I truly don’t mean to make this a commercial—I’m just super excited about it!)
As for me, my path forward over the next few months is going to be based around the most intense stages of finishing our research and writing the next book that Jeff and I are working on (click here to read more). I know I definitely need this journaling time to help keep me focused on the next right step, every step of the way.
I want to encourage all of us in this new season to really be purposeful in praying for God’s path forward for us—and then writing it down! Happy New Year, friends.
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Shaunti Feldhahn loves sharing eye-opening information that helps people thrive in life and relationships. She herself started out with a Harvard graduate degree and Wall Street credentials but no clue about life. After an unexpected shift into relationship research for average people like her, she now is a popular speaker and author of best-selling books about men, women and relationships. (Including For Women Only, For Men Only, and the groundbreaking The Good News About Marriage).
Her latest book, Find Rest: A Women’s Devotional for Lasting Peace in Busy Life, focuses on a journey to rest even with life’s constant demands.
Visit www.shaunti.com for more.