A Quiet Time With God--Where I Came From--Where I Am Now--Shared Journalings

If you have read my warmharte post, you will know that I am a day behind.

In order for you to understand why this study is important to me, I want to share with you where I came from.

I was raised in a church that was very concerned with the legalities of religion, what was appropriate and not appropriate for their particular denomination.

Yes, I knew all the facts, I knew that Jesus had come, lived, suffered and died for me. But, I did not have a relationship with Him. All I had were the facts.

When I started attending the church I now go to (thank you, Linda!), I would be walking down a hallway and hear someone say, "I'll be praying about that", or I would walk into the restroom and find two or more people praying together, very fervently.

I didn't understand this--in the church I came from, we did not pray! Only the pastor of the church prayed at the end of the service, and this was a very generalized prayer.

I did not understand why these people were offering to pray for one another, praying together in what seemed (at the time) to be inappropriate places, and most of all, I just didn't know how to pray!

I remember when my mother passed away, the pastor came to our home and he offered to pray with us. This was not a pray for comfort, for help in our grieving. He simply asked for God to be with us. At the time, I thought to myself that this was a rather trite prayer--asking God to be with us--wasn't He already with us always?

So, I needed to learn to pray. In this, I am still a "baby", moving on up to toddler--just still taking my faltering steps. But, I am learning.

I have edited the previous post and shared some of my journalings from Wednesday. I ask you to read what I have written and please share with me. As I stated earlier, I am in the early stages of learning, and I would love to know what you think.

I'll be back later today to move on to the second part of how I am learning to have a quiet time with God.

Have a blessed day!

Beth