I Want God to Lead My Life

 

“I want God to lead my life.”

I often hear many people tell me this.

How exactly do you let God lead your life?

If you want God to lead your life, you need to spend time with God.

How often do you need to spend time with God?

Daily

God seems to operate quietly deep within our souls.

God seems to patiently wait for us to come and sit.

How does God want us to spend time with Him?

I don’t think there is one right or wrong way to spend time with God.

That is what makes it so beautiful!

We can verbally pray to God and ask Him to help us and others.

We can praise and thank Him for the things in our lives.

We can complain to Him when things don’t seem to be go the way we want.

We can read a sacred scripture.

And

We can sit silently with Him and just rest, recharge and reset.

My method of rest, recharge and reset is Centering Prayer.

It works well for me!

There are many other methods of rest, recharge and reset:

–Contemplative photography

–Christian meditation

-Meditation

-Walking

–Chanting

–Lectio Divina

-Painting

-Drawing

-Music

– Mindfulness

-There are many others!

I encourage you to take advantage of the beauty and diversity of prayer methods available to us.

The point is to do it.

And do it daily.

Over time you will become pleasantly surprised to find that

God will lead your life!

And

That these special times are places you come from.

They seem to nudge, lead and prompt you forward in your life.

Let me know how it goes.

Feel free to share what ways you spend time with God.

Go Further:

Be Still and Listen: Experience the Presence of God in Your Life by Amos Smith

The Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice by Christine Valters Paintner

Lectio Divina—The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer (The Art of Spiritual Living) by Christine Valters Paintner

Jesus the Teacher Within by Laurence Freeman

Meeting God in Scripture: A Hands-On Guide to Lectio Divina by Jan Johnson

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening by Cynthia Bourgeault

 

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Contemplative Light offers courses on contemplative practices (Christian Meditation, Centering Prayer, The Examen, Lectio Divina, The Jesus Prayer), the Christian mystics (ancient and current) and spiritual writing. Peruse their wonderful offerings.

Contemplative Discernment by Fr. Carl Arico, Pamela Begeman, Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler: A contemplative practice of discernment is not about decision-making, although this may be an eventual outcome. Rather, contemplative discernment is receptive in nature, a process of opening to receive clues about who we are in God. We focus on ever-deepening levels of relationship and trust in God’s will for us. We learn how to listen deeply to our motivations and sort through and purify any mixed motivations. As this relationship deepens, we learn to allow the love of God to motivate our actions and manifest through us. We discover what it means to truly pray “not my will, but Thy will.”

Embracing Living: The Welcoming Prayer by Contemplative Outreach, Mary Dwyer, Therese Saulnier, Cherry Haisten, Jim McElroy: The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions to events and situations in daily life. If Centering Prayer (or another daily prayer) is practiced for one hour of the day, the Welcoming Prayer is for the other 23 hours. It is a “letting go” in the present moment, in the midst of the activity of ordinary life.

Practicing the Presence of God by Pamela Begeman, Mary Ann Brussat, Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler, David Frenette: We live in a world of complexity, fragmentation, noise, and haste. We sometimes find ourselves overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of tasks, appointments, and commitments facing us. How can we experience God in the midst of the busyness, responsibilities, and activities of our daily lives? By practice. By living more in the present moment. By practicing the presence of God in the present moment.