PATTERNS AND SELF DISCOVERY...

I've made a discovery, and for those of you that spend time in self-evaluation, it's probably nothing new.  But it was interesting to me and I thought it might be helpful to mention here.

I've been preparing for a presentation in a women's class this quarter, so I've been scouring my sources for the right scriptures, stories, and examples.  I took out my Jesus Calling  devotional book that I went through a while back.  As I read my way through the book, I noted on the inside front and back covers particular dates and subjects in the book that really spoke to me.  I labeled them "favorites," and today I was looking through them to see if any of them related to my presentation.  I had actually tagged 53 different dates that were meaningful to me.

What I found interesting is that many of the same subjects came up time and time again.  I realized these were things that I must have been interested in or really struggling with that year.  Subjects like time, routine, and performance came up often.  Others like  experiencing God's peace and presence, and giving up control to Him came up several times as well.

Unknowingly, I had made a list of 53 challenges as I try to live my life in step with Christ. I'm not sure what I will do with my list at this point, but I'm glad I made the notes in that book.  You might want to try making some notations in a devotional guide or something similar to see what patterns emerge.  I may struggle with some of these things the rest of my life, but I do rest in this promise:

  But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us.  We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.) God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it.  
Ephesians 2:4-9 (God's Word translation)

Blessings to you!