Girls,
I just wanted to encourage you to keep up with your devotion and Bible time. I know how easy it is to get distracted or to push it off to the side because we get so busy. But really, when you think about it, you make time for the important things; so when you are planning your day, how important is God to you? I can remember sitting in church when I was a little girl, and something the preacher said really convicted me. He was talking about spending time with God and specifically how we should be spending time with Him in the morning before the craziness of the day begins. He said that we put things that are important to us first; so if you start your day with spending time with God then that is proving that He is important to you. Think about it this way, do you want to give your Savior, your Prince, your God, the priority time slot or the left over time, if you happen to have any. I want to encourage you to set a time of the day that is reserved just for you and God and keep that just as you would any other appointment. If I don't do that and if I don't spend time with God first thing in the morning, then I don't get to it because I do get caught up in the business of life.
Something that I really think is important that all girls should do, is to keep a prayer journal. I have one; I just write down my prayers to God and I write about different verses or different things that He has shown me. I can't tell you how helpful this is. There are many times that I want to talk to Him about something but I can't find the words or I don't really know for sure what is on my heart, so I just take a pen and my journal and start writing...and before I know it I end up pouring my heart out to Him and I somehow find all the right words and really figure out what is on my heart. Sometimes there are things on my heart that I don't even realize. Keeping a journal also makes a good track record. You can go back and see how consistent you have been in spending time with Him and it also allows you to look back and see just how far you have come and how much you have grown! It is the most incredible feeling. Not that long ago I looked back through my old journals and I could see my growth over a period of time; where I was as compared to where I am now...it was the most amazing thing ever! :) I personally keep two journals...I have my "purity journal" and my "prayer journal". I go back every so often and read through both of them. It also helps in getting you back to where you should be. There are times that I have grown cold in my walk with Christ rather than passionately pursuing Him...I look back through my journal and I see the passion that I had before and it convicts me about where I am currently in my walk. Plus I love writing out my prayers to God because to me it seems more personal and it makes you really stop and think and not just throw a quick prayer up to Him.
So my question for you is do you have a journal? If so, if you look back and your old entries, are you consistent? Is there a consistent growth pattern throughout all of the pages? Are you consistently spending time with Him or is it hit and miss whenever you have time? How important is your Prince to you? If there was a boy that you were interested in, or possibly you are in a relationship...how much time to you spend talking to that boy and getting to know him? You want to know everything about him, right? And you want to spend as much time with him as you can and when you aren't spending time with him you are thinking about him, correct? Well, how can you do more for a boy you like than you can do for your Ultimate Prince, your Saviour who died for you!? He wants to spend time with you and He wants to have your undivided attention not whatever time you have left over. He wants to be the focus of your attention not just a side thought. Too many times we put things or people ahead of the One who really matters, myself included. So, think about your priorities and maybe you need to think about getting things (or certain people) out of your life so you can focus your devotion on Him and so that you can start building that habit. That is what I had to do. I had to get things out of my life and put certain things away and even stop talking to certain people so that I could focus solely on my Prince, my Savior. It takes a long time and hard work to build the habit, but it is an amazing journey. And once you build that habit of spending time with Him and focusing on Him..you have to fight to keep that habit because Satan will want to get you back to where you were instead of where God has you now. My advice is to find an accountability partner to help you in this process. Trust me, you won't regret it!
Always in my prayers,
Jessica
