Welcome to week one of the Women Living Well book club! I hope you have enjoyed the start to this study and have found it helpful and motivating as I have.
Courtney starts her book with the most important aspect of being able to live well— walking with God. The state of our walk with God affects everything else in our lives. Time spent with God helps us recharge and refocus. Our lives have become so busy and we must protect our time and intentionally reserve time to spend with God in Bible study and prayer. We need times of solitude away from demands and distractions to focus on walking with God—resting in His presence, studying and meditating on His Word to us, and communicating back to Him.
As a wife and mom, Courtney can relate to how difficult it can be to secure that alone time with God. She openly shares her own struggles to secure time alone with the increased time restraints that come from having two small children. Luke 5:12-16 tells that Jesus also needed to take time away from the crowds to pray and spend time with the Heavenly Father. Jesus’ doing to is an indication of how vital quiet time is. To effectively use our time, we must plan when, where, and how we will use our alone time with God, otherwise we will likely waste it.
Lastly, Courtney talks about prayer journaling, prayer walking, and fasting to get our prayer lives on track. Relationships require open communication from both sides. God has communicated with us through Scripture, and in Psalm 139:17-18, David expresses his joy of the many times God thinks of Him. We must also seek to communicate with God. Prayer is vital to our worship because it is an expression of our joy in God as well as a conversation on the state of our hearts and lives.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed at the thought that my own walk with God is not where it should be, reading these chapters has encouraged me to get back on track. I am going to carve out a large block of time this Saturday to spend planning the when, where, and how of my quiet times so that I can move forward intentionally leveraging my time spent with God. I also am encouraged to use the times spent cleaning or doing things around the house to pray for myself and those around me.
Make sure to click on over to Women Living Well for videos from Courtney and the book club forum where you can share your thoughts and read those of others.
Leave a Reply