The Listening Challenge: Day 1

So last night in my Lifegroup, I was challenged to wake up early, read out of my Bible for 15 minutes, sit quietly, wait to hear the Lord speak to me, then in turn, blog about the "journey", so to speak. We are reading a book where the author is showing us what it is to become fully alive in Christ and one of the benefits of becoming fully alive is knowing when and hearing Him speak to you. So that is what I'll be doing. I'll read His Word and listen. I have a feeling the first of many posts will be boring, but hopefully after a while, hopefully, the Lord and I will become in tune with each other the way He has always intended. 

 

I'm not much of a blogger, I love reading other's blogs, but feel like I can't get my thoughts across as eloquently as others do... But nonetheless, here is my attempt at blogging my process.

**Disclaimer** Be patient (talking to myself mostly) because I don't feel like I'm as deep of a thinker as most of the people I'm surrounded by. I tend to think on a surface level, so I throughly enjoy listening to other's perspective on different topics and readings, I learn so much from them. I love seeing how their brains work. So my blog won't probably be extremely insightful, just an account of the process. 

I've decided to start with Romans. I'm slowly and intently reading, so I didn't blow through chapters at a normal pace. I'm hoping if I slow down, I can really allow the Lord to speak to me, since this is the whole purpose of the challenge. By taking it slowly, I got through chapter 1 and a bit through 2. I read it in a few versions just to get a more rounded perspective. Then I sat in silence. I noticed I was starting to dose off, probably because I stayed up super late last night, so I made a cup of coffee. I felt myself starting to think about things I am planning on doing today, so I had to keep resetting myself to just listen. I also found myself praying for others and the day ahead, I also had to stop that and just listen. Not saying that I shouldn't pray, but this is not what I'm setting out here to do. So I designated a time after I sat in silence to pray. 

So as I figured, day 1, nothing. And not that the Lord didn't speak to me, but I have not figured out how to listen yet. I'm still struggling with knowing when it's Him speaking or me just thinking. But nevertheless, I enjoyed my morning, waking up in the Word, being quiet and starting my day focused on Him.