This is the blog of Dr. Katie Brazelton, who is the founder of Life Purpose Coaching Centers International® and the bestselling author of seven books and related DVDs. Her newest book is The One Year Recovery Devotional: Where the Road to Recovery Intersects with the Pathway to Purpose (Tyndale).
Monday, August 07, 2006
What does your "alone time" with the Lord look like?!
10 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Thanks, Katie, for encouraging me with your vulnerability.
One thought came to mind for me to share. I am going through the "Surrender" section of Conversations with my coach and the list of things to be surrendered is long (so it's a good thing that we aren't meeting for 3 weeks due to schedules, as the Lord knows I need to meditate on this one a long time). So I was "meeting with God" in a simple way - upon my bed with eyes closed just meditating and questioning God. I asked him how I can truly surrender all this stuff...how can I truly believe and put him at the helm... He had me recall the times when as a teen our church would sing "Let My Life and Let it Be" regularly and how each time I made it a prayer of surrender. Those words are so fitting. I wanted that simplicity of surrender again.
As I moved from my meditation moment, nothing profound happened. On Sunday, however, the worship team had chosen for us to sing "Take My Life and Let it Be" - an updated version. We didn't sing that often at this church, so I knew the timing of it was God's special message to me. I was deeply touched to think the entire church of 700 would be singing a song just for my sake. It was God saying he had heard my prayer two days prior and he was still leading me...
As you have said, out with the old - in with the new (version)!
My method here of spending time with God was merely sharing in meditation with him and then watching in expectation for what would happen next. It was definately a two-way process this time!
“Alone time” with the Lord looks different depending on what His agenda is & what my plans are…and these are often quite different. God has been calling me to simply rest before Him, to be still, to be silent, to listen...really listen. He is taking me to deeper places that I never thought possible, simply because I "came" and was able to "let go" of my agenda.
God is challenging me to get outside of the box with Him during our "alone time" and in life in general. Because the reality is HE IS ALREADY OUTSIDE THE BOX!!! There is nothing "packaged" with a pretty pink bow with the LORD. He wants to shake things up. He wants to surprise you, make you laugh, sing, dance, cry, set you free and heal the deepest places of your soul. We just have to let go and let Him in.
I am learning to trust Him more with this time and as a former controloholic this is challenging, b/c you do not know where it will take you. However, I can confidently say that it will take you to places you never imagined. Daily, I come to Him now with much anticipation to what He is going to say, do, or reveal to me. God has so much more in store for each us!
Ah, you both made me smile when your posts reminded me of a dear friend who recently told me that she loves a spare room in her home that she uses as her Prayer Place -- because it has become such holy ground of God showing up to meet with her. She says that it is almost inevitable that he will communicate with her when she attempts "to be still, to be silent, to listen ... really listen." I love this friend, mainly because, regularly, she does tell God: TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE... Hugs, katieb
Yes as you have shared, a special room, or a special place. My places change depending on the day. I have a stool in my closet for prayers to be said where I need all else is blocked out (it's pretty dark in there with the lights off); I have a sunny kitchen for loving the sun prayer times, usually accompanied by Bible reading and journalling; I also sometimes pray up the stairs...that is on bended knee, say a prayer for every stair as I climb up on my knees. Those are more of the "I don't know what to do" type of prayers. These are a few of my set-apart places.
Thanks for the timely freebie message on Surrender!
After surrendering some things I have found myself doing "research" on areas. I wondered if I had taken back the issues by doing this. Today I was relieved to hear in your speech, that after taking it to God to hear his truth, Step 2 is to do the homework or fieldwork he leads us to! Hurray, I'm on track.
God also had me surrender some grief about old best friends that once I moved away from I never heard from again even though I contacted them. It hurt to lose touch with them. God said to me to "grieve those old friendships, cherish them and then move on and be content with whom he would bring around me." To my surprise, this month I have had two different people from the West Coast drop by and a third plans to drop by in September! He is really "bringing" these people to me. He has had them drive miles and the other one he will have fly miles! I'm honored. Also yesterday my dad who lives miles away said he bumped into another old friend who said to say hello to me. I had totally forgotten about her. There is so much hope! This surrender stuff is fun and liberating!
What a blessing this blog was. Thanks so much for your honesty Katie. This is my first time at this site and I am impressed. My alone time with God is spent at night. I love it when my husband and kids have fallen asleep and away we go. Also, both my kids will be in school fulltime this year so I will be making changes in my time with Christ... esp my study time. I am going through the out with the old and in with the new in both my life... ( with my kids starting fulltimes school) and in church committees. ( moving into youth ministry). It is a scary thing. It is change yet it is God breathed so I know it is right and it is GOOD! Thanks again for blessing me so, this day! God Bless you!!!
My alone time with God is usually spent outside at work in the wee hours of the morning, when the world is still & quiet (I am a police dispatcher). I go outside for what I call God breaks.
It makes it nice, though I noticed since I quit smoking, I don't get out as much as I should.
I also spend quiet time when everyone in my home is asleep in bed to read and make notes.
I have a great life purpose coach and God is showing us so much through this study.
Hi Katie,It is such an amazing thing to see someone be vulnerable. You're encouraging the rest of us a lot. I want to encourage you with Hebrews 11v27 in the Amplified. It says of Moses, 'For he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed upon Him who is invisible.' Keep on gazing on the invisible God. All of creation ends and starts with Him. See how things fall into place when you get your priorities aligned again. We all get busy, but just start gazing on Him again. Lots of love, Bianca
Time spent reading The Purpose Driven Life truly freed me to worship and spend my quiet time with God in so many ways, laying prostrate and silent, signing at the top of my lungs, a prayerful walk in the park, engouraging a friend to fight the good fight of faith, journaling to my King... The possibilities are endless. It feels good to be free!
10 comments:
Thanks, Katie, for encouraging me with your vulnerability.
One thought came to mind for me to share. I am going through the "Surrender" section of Conversations with my coach and the list of things to be surrendered is long (so it's a good thing that we aren't meeting for 3 weeks due to schedules, as the Lord knows I need to meditate on this one a long time). So I was "meeting with God" in a simple way - upon my bed with eyes closed just meditating and questioning God. I asked him how I can truly surrender all this stuff...how can I truly believe and put him at the helm... He had me recall the times when as a teen our church would sing "Let My Life and Let it Be" regularly and how each time I made it a prayer of surrender. Those words are so fitting. I wanted that simplicity of surrender again.
As I moved from my meditation moment, nothing profound happened. On Sunday, however, the worship team had chosen for us to sing "Take My Life and Let it Be" - an updated version. We didn't sing that often at this church, so I knew the timing of it was God's special message to me. I was deeply touched to think the entire church of 700 would be singing a song just for my sake. It was God saying he had heard my prayer two days prior and he was still leading me...
As you have said, out with the old - in with the new (version)!
My method here of spending time with God was merely sharing in meditation with him and then watching in expectation for what would happen next. It was definately a two-way process this time!
“Alone time” with the Lord looks different depending on what His agenda is & what my plans are…and these are often quite different. God has been calling me to simply rest before Him, to be still, to be silent, to listen...really listen. He is taking me to deeper places that I never thought possible, simply because I "came" and was able to "let go" of my agenda.
God is challenging me to get outside of the box with Him during our "alone time" and in life in general. Because the reality is HE IS ALREADY OUTSIDE THE BOX!!! There is nothing "packaged" with a pretty pink bow with the LORD. He wants to shake things up. He wants to surprise you, make you laugh, sing, dance, cry, set you free and heal the deepest places of your soul. We just have to let go and let Him in.
I am learning to trust Him more with this time and as a former controloholic this is challenging, b/c you do not know where it will take you. However, I can confidently say that it will take you to places you never imagined. Daily, I come to Him now with much anticipation to what He is going to say, do, or reveal to me. God has so much more in store for each us!
Sorry in post above I should have written "Take My Life..." not "Let my Life..."
and...When I said we didn't sing that often at this church I meant that particular "song" that often.
Ooops.
Ah, you both made me smile when your posts reminded me of a dear friend who recently told me that she loves a spare room in her home that she uses as her Prayer Place -- because it has become such holy ground of God showing up to meet with her. She says that it is almost inevitable that he will communicate with her when she attempts "to be still, to be silent, to listen ... really listen." I love this friend, mainly because, regularly, she does tell God: TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE...
Hugs,
katieb
Yes as you have shared, a special room, or a special place. My places change depending on the day. I have a stool in my closet for prayers to be said where I need all else is blocked out (it's pretty dark in there with the lights off); I have a sunny kitchen for loving the sun prayer times, usually accompanied by Bible reading and journalling; I also sometimes pray up the stairs...that is on bended knee, say a prayer for every stair as I climb up on my knees. Those are more of the "I don't know what to do" type of prayers. These are a few of my set-apart places.
Thanks for the timely freebie message on Surrender!
After surrendering some things I have found myself doing "research" on areas. I wondered if I had taken back the issues by doing this. Today I was relieved to hear in your speech, that after taking it to God to hear his truth, Step 2 is to do the homework or fieldwork he leads us to! Hurray, I'm on track.
God also had me surrender some grief about old best friends that once I moved away from I never heard from again even though I contacted them. It hurt to lose touch with them. God said to me to "grieve those old friendships, cherish them and then move on and be content with whom he would bring around me." To my surprise, this month I have had two different people from the West Coast drop by and a third plans to drop by in September! He is really "bringing" these people to me. He has had them drive miles and the other one he will have fly miles! I'm honored. Also yesterday my dad who lives miles away said he bumped into another old friend who said to say hello to me. I had totally forgotten about her. There is so much hope! This surrender stuff is fun and liberating!
What a blessing this blog was. Thanks so much for your honesty Katie. This is my first time at this site and I am impressed. My alone time with God is spent at night. I love it when my husband and kids have fallen asleep and away we go. Also, both my kids will be in school fulltime this year so I will be making changes in my time with Christ... esp my study time.
I am going through the out with the old and in with the new in both my life... ( with my kids starting fulltimes school) and in church committees. ( moving into youth ministry). It is a scary thing. It is change yet it is God breathed so I know it is right and it is GOOD! Thanks again for blessing me so, this day! God Bless you!!!
My alone time with God is usually spent outside at work in the wee hours of the morning, when the world is still & quiet (I am a police dispatcher). I go outside for what I call God breaks.
It makes it nice, though I noticed since I quit smoking, I don't get out as much as I should.
I also spend quiet time when everyone in my home is asleep in bed to read and make notes.
I have a great life purpose coach and God is showing us so much through this study.
Jean
Hi Katie,It is such an amazing thing to see someone be vulnerable. You're encouraging the rest of us a lot. I want to encourage you with Hebrews 11v27 in the Amplified. It says of Moses, 'For he never flinched but held staunchly to his purpose and endured steadfastly as one who gazed upon Him who is invisible.' Keep on gazing on the invisible God. All of creation ends and starts with Him. See how things fall into place when you get your priorities aligned again. We all get busy, but just start gazing on Him again. Lots of love, Bianca
Time spent reading The Purpose Driven Life truly freed me to worship and spend my quiet time with God in so many ways, laying prostrate and silent, signing at the top of my lungs, a prayerful walk in the park, engouraging a friend to fight the good fight of faith, journaling to my King... The possibilities are endless. It feels good to be free!
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