Tag Archives: morning

The #1 Thing I’m Most Passionate About

From my morning time this morning

What I’m Passionate About

If you’ve spent any amount of time with me in this corner of the world known as Faithfully Stepping, you know that I am passionate about developing a morning time routine. I believe having a time each day that you spend with God reading his word and praying is the most important thing you can do every single day. The reason I am passionate about it is that this is the way we develop our relationship with Jesus; and developing a relationship with God is the most important thing we can do.

The physician Luke put it this way:

Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.

Luke 12:21 NLT

Developing a Relationship with God

We know that our relationship with God is incredibly important, but sometimes we don’t know how to go about creating or cultivating a relationship with God. That’s where having a morning time routine comes in. When you follow a consistent morning time each day, you set yourself up to spend time with God each day. When you spend time with somebody every day, it’s impossible not to grow closer to them. That’s how it is in our relationship with God. You may not even get something every single day from your Bible reading, yet you feel blessed and encouraged simply by having spent time in God’s presence.

The Thirty-to-THRIVE System

So how do we do this? How do we create a morning time routine? Matt and I teach a simple system. It’s called 30-to-THRIVE.

  1. You spend ten minutes reading from either your Bible or a devotional. If you need a good devotional, check out Manney Resources. We have several 30-Day Devotionals to choose from.
  2. Then you use your journal to work through your prayer for the day. If you use our journals, there’s a section for gratitude, confession, and requests. Then there’s a section to write down what you learned from your Bible reading or devotional for the day.
  3. Lastly, you spend time reading a book. This can be a Christian inspirational book, a book for work, a leadership book, a new hobby book, whatever you choose. It’s simply something that adds value to your day. I like to read Christian inspirational books as a part of my Bible reading time. Matt often reads a leadership book or a book that has something to do with working with people or pastoring. Check out my page for book reccommendations, or you can pick up one of our books.

Resources for Morning Time

You can find everything you need to get started at Manney Resources. Below is a picture of just a few of our resources. Journals on the left, books on the right, and devotionals at the top.

Manney Resources

Making It Special

To make your morning time special, I suggest adding a candle, a cup of coffee, some pretty pens, and a basket to keep all your materials in.

That’s it; that’s how you create a morning time routine. It’s simple, yet it can change your life. If you are more of a visual type of person, I created a video series on getting a morning time routine started.

If you can develop a morning time routine and stick with it, I can guarantee you will grow in your relationship with God and in your faith. It will become the grounding force in your life and will carry you through times of discouragement, depression, and defeat. How do I know this? Because it’s done that for me; that’s why I’m so passionate about it. This is simply a tangible way to have a relationship with God, and a relationship with God is the most important thing in your life!

More Encouragement

For more on this topic, check out my post, Revolutionize Your Morning Time with These Ten Products.

The Best Part of a Beach Vacation

Matt with our crazies at the beach

Summertime at the Beach

It’s summertime! For us, that means it’s time to pack up and head to the beach for a few days. There are a few reasons I love going to the beach for a week. First of all, it’s a change of pace. I get to take a break from schedules, to-do-lists, and pressures. I get to spend more time playing with my kids and talking with my husband and extended family. Second, it’s a change of place. Because I am not at home, I don’t have as many responsibilities to tend to. I get extra time to read and relax.

My Favorite Thing to Do at the Beach

But my most favorite reason for spending a week at the beach is the chance to get closer to God. My favorite thing to do is to get up early in the morning, make a cup of coffee, grab my Bible and my journal and head outside to the patio. Outside I feel the cool breeze and hear the lull of the waves. I soak in the peace and quiet and beauty of the early morning and begin the best part of my day.

I open my journal and write down my praises, my sins to confess, and my prayer requests for the day. Next, I pray through those; then I usually spend a few extra minutes just talking to God and telling Him what’s on my heart. After that, I take a few minutes to be quiet and still. Finally, I open my Bible and read.

The peace that I feel when I have finished my morning time with God is amazing. It is always good to spend time with God, but there is something extra special about it at the beach! I always feel closer to God when I am at the beach. I love that feeling of closeness.

Getting Closer to God

One morning while I was at the beach, I read James chapter 4 and came across a familiar verse.

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.

I love this verse, and I spent a few minutes thinking about it. This verse is so simple, yet so profound. Sometimes I come to a point where I feel so far away from God. I feel like He doesn’t hear me, like He isn’t there for me. During these times, I need to remember that God hasn’t gone anywhere; He is still right where He was. It’s me that’s moved. Maybe I have gotten too busy to hear His voice in the rush of things, maybe I haven’t spent as much time as I need to in my morning time with Him, or maybe sin has separated me from feeling His presence. Whatever the case, this verse is a reminder to draw close to God once again. I need to stop the craziness, grab my Bible and journal, and spend some quality time talking to God, listening to Him, and reading His Word.

The beach is my favorite place to get closer to God, but I don’t have to be at the beach for that to happen. I simply have to choose to take the time and effort to draw close to God, and He in turn will draw close to me.