Blogging as a way to spend quality time with God

I'm going to try to start posting regularly again. I won't be able to daily or even once a week for sure but I want to try. I miss it. I mainly miss the time spent dwelling in thought with God and His Word. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend some quality time with God and appreciate His Presence and blessings. I haven't made that a real priority in the last 7 months. Seemed just too hard to do....Isn't that a ridiculous statement? Too hard to spend quality time with God. God would never allow that. God is the place where we find rest and refuge. If nothing else, God gives us the ability to spend time with Him, IF we choose to. Well, I plan to do better. I'm hoping that restarting posting to this blog will help.

I have some random things to post about.
1) The sermon last Sunday was on God's call to Samuel. 1 Samuel 3:1b says "In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions." The pastor said that he figures that God's word wasn't rare; the people just weren't listening. The thought that popped into my mind as the pastor said that was "if a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" I steadfastly believe that there is sound. So the pastor's notion that God probably was speaking and the people just didn't hear because they weren't listening makes sense to me.

2) A quick note about a book or two: Open Your Eyes Toward Living More Deeply in the Present by Gail J Stearns. This book is over my head and a lot of what I do understand I don't think I agree with. Notice what I just said? "I don't THINK...." The book made me think a lot about what I believe and why I believe it. That is so very important, the WHY. When you take time to know the WHY, you can stand on a firmer foundation. So, I do suggest reading it. Remember to watch for statements that you may interpret as fact when they might actually be opinion. You should decide what is opinion and if you agree or not.

The second book is called Love as a Way of Life by Gary Chapman. This book opened my eyes to ways to love people that I never contemplated before. The author says there are seven characteristics of a loving person. I don't have all seven, or rarely practice all seven but just because I'm not very good at some doesn't mean I'm not loving, just not as loving as I could be. The seven characteristics are kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity and honesty. The author explains each and provides examples; many I would not have thought of in the same light as the author. This is a good book for improving your life by loving others better and more completely. I hope I can put more into practice! Some will take a LOT of practice.

Now that I've publicly said I'm going to blog again, I intend to look for God-insights, God-sightings, God-thumps on my head, etc. to write about. That should keep me focused on God. That should help me spend quality time with my Lord and Savior.

Thank you, Jesus. Rebuke me, Spirit. Guide me, God. Amen.

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