Back tracking

Two years ago was really the beginning of the journey I'm on. It started with God placing one very special person in my life. She is a dear friend to me now and I feel I owe her a debt of gratitude and I owe God all the praise and glory for putting the two of us together.


Like never before, I connected with my dear friend on a spiritual level unlike any I had experienced prior to that. We would sit together, in the evening (which was key because the kids were all in bed and the house was quiet.), and "talk God." I didn't realize how much I longed to talk to someone about God and what He meant to me, what He was doing in my life, and share my spiritual walk with another person. How I longed to sit with a friend and open our Bibles and read scripture together.


Now, I'm not a shy person, at all, so I often would talk about God and would casually share what He was doing in my life, but this was different. It was intentional. It was raw. It was pure. And once I tasted it, I wanted more of it.


On the first night we met, nearly 4 or 5 hours into our conversation (and nearly the end of our time together, as it was almost 1 or 2 in the morning) she mentioned journaling. I was intrigued. I asked her to share a bit of what she meant by journaling. (Now, let me back track again for a moment... I had tried so many times in my past to journal. I had tried and I had failed. My book shelves are filled with mostly new, nearly empty attempts. It was frustrating because I wanted to be doing this but couldn't seem to stick to it.) She pulled out this journal and ever so lovingly and gently cracked open this very worn, well used, and much loved journal. She opened it up to the beginning and and taught me the method that this particular journal used. The SOAP method. S = Scripture, O = Observation, A = Application, and P = Prayer.


The journal, created by Pastor Peter Bonanno at Grace Capital Church in Concord, NH beautifully lists a daily reading guide, usually Old Testament with New Testament, and on occasion a Psalm or Proverb in there as well. Each day you read the scripture listed for the day, then you go through the SOAP method. You pick a verse that God spoke to you through, write it down, then observe what God was speaking to the people of that time, apply God's Word to your life, and write your prayer out before the Lord.


Journaling became a spiritual high for me. The more I dug into God's Word, the more I wanted to know Him so much more intimately and more personally. I could not get enough of spending time with my Savior, which posed a problem since I was a home schooling mom to 4. But God, in all His beauty and grace, blessed my time with Him and made it so that this tired mom was able to wake up at 5:30-5:45 am, spend a full hour to hour and a half with him and still not be tired throughout the day, or allow me some time in my day to take a nap.


As I began to write out my prayers, I could visibly see God changing my heart. I began to see God changing my mind - renewing my mind and making me more and more Christ-like.


Romans 12:2 says this, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will."


"Renewing our minds is a complete metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is a process of transformation that happens from the inside out. This unusual word is also used in Mark 9, where it says, "Jesus was transfigured before them." Jesus went up to the mountain with three of His closest followers, where they met Elijah and Moses. They heard God's voice authenticating Jesus as the Son of God. Then Jesus was "metamorphosised" right before their eyes. The text does not teach us that there was a bright light shining down on Jesus, but that there was a light, far brighter than the sun, shining "out of Him" unveiling his glory and deity to Peter, John, and James. The primary point I want to make is that life change - genuine spiritual maturity - is not the result of external self-effort, but a supernatural process that flows from the inside out." Living on the Edge by Chip Ingram.  


So, my questions to you are: What are you feeding your mind? Have you journaled or are you interested in journaling? Do you want to make real changes in your life and see real results?


The first step - begin renewing your mind. What you feed your mind is what will be produced in your life. Above, I hyper-linked directly to where you can purchase one of the journals I spoke about. I really encourage you to begin - purchase one of those journals and dive into it. I promise you, God will meet you where you are at and He will begin to renew your mind. You will be able to see changes in your life. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you.


2 Cor. 3:18 tells us this, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."


Praise God! This renewing process, the metamorphosis process is painful at times. There are ugly truths about ourselves that are hard to deal with, but God is calling us there. We cannot be truly authentic in our walks with God and in our lives with others if we do not come to grips with who we really are. The only way to come to grips with who we really are is to begin to dig deep into God's Word, renewing your mind, and allowing God to tell us who we really are - not the world's perception of us.


While I am two years into this process, It's only been in the past 5 weeks that God has begun to peel back the layers of my life to allow me to see some deep hurts and deeply rooted lies surrounding who I am at the core of my being. These have been painful discoveries, but I am so excited to see where God and I are going with this.


"The most succinct explanation of why most Christians live lives of duplicity and inconsistency is primarily found in their spiritual diet." - Chip Ingram