my quiet time spot and resources, a movie and worship music

Happy Tuesday, friends! I hope your week has gotten off to a good start. Mine sure did! I lived my favorite kind of day yesterday—I had good, quality time with Jesus and I spent several hours at my kitchen table reading His word, studying and finishing my Bible study homework. I'm sad to say that, because you know how much I've loved this Bible study. It has been so, so good, That's actually what I want to talk about today—a little bit of Bible study, a little bit of my quiet time habits and a bit of the resources that I like to use.

For ten weeks in Bible study, we've studied the characteristics listed below:

• discernment
• honor
• affection
• discipline
• virtue
• responsibility
• benevolence
• disposition
• legacy
• beauty

Each week we learned a biblical truth about the characteristic we studied, then we compared it to something that popular culture says. This study is called True Woman 201//Interior Design. The first part of our study was a separate one, True Woman 101//Divine Design, where we learned about why God created men and women the way He did and we learned how to live as a biblical woman of God. Trust me when I say that I've never known how much the worldly culture has affected the way that I think and believed. When I say I've undergone a(nother) radical transformation, know that I mean every word of it, with no dramatic effect. I've been convicted and I've been renewed as I've studied this passage like never before. It's brought about change in my marriage, in my parenting/encouraging role and in my life and with how I spend my personal time.

The whole study was based on the truth of Titus 2:3-5 and 10. I'll write them out for you. You can read the verses and understand on your own how they're applied through the characteristics I listed.

In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not slaves to excessive drinking. They are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and in submission to their husbands, so that God's word will not be slandered...so that they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior in everything.

I feel like I have learned so much, even though I feel like I already knew a lot of the subject matter going in. I keep saying that because I love to hear when people love a book they read, a song they like or a good Bible study they participated in. I love the Revive Our Hearts ministries that put this study out. The authors are trusted and godly women and if you visit the website, they have lots of resources that are sound. In this day and time, we have to be careful about what we read and who we trust. I always encourage people to do their research about a person and ministry. You'll quickly see for yourself what is being said about the person you're looking into. For instance, I loved a particular Bible study author and grew up in the faith doing her studies for many years. And for those years, I believe she was trustworthy, but somewhere along the line, she started to veer ever so slightly from the truth of the Bible. I actually know several who did this, but this one particular woman was someone I looked up to, even though I didn't personally know her. It's like using a plumb line as you hang wallpaper—without using one the lines may appear straight, but when you get to that window, you'll see that you became very off centered.

So, don't take my word for this ministry and study, look into it on your own! See who their partners are and make sure that what they teach aligns with sound doctrine. I also love Proverbs 31 Ministries and believe they're a trusted resource. Some preachers that I love are Tony Evans, Jim Cymbala and David Platt. Tony Evans is probably my favorite. His daughter Priscilla Shirer is another trustworthy resource and Bible teacher. 

Speaking of her, I was inspired to watch the movie she starred in several years ago last week—War Room. I don't remember why I was inspired to watch it, but I was glad I did. I think I need to watch it again every few months to inspire my prayer life. Have you seen the movie? It's really good and able to purchased or rented from Prime TV. I love how the main character in the movie has a war room, which is her prayer closet. I don't have one such hidden room, but my prayer happens either from my chair in the living room or while I'm at my kitchen table having quiet time. 

My quiet time basket has been moved around and used for many different things, but the latest that I'm doing with it is making it the home of the resources I use on a daily basis. It's easy to move with it being in a basket on the rare occasion when our dinner table is full. Even with the basket, there are still things I use that don't fit in there, so I keep them stacked neatly on the table. Lately I've been using lots of post-it notes for my favorite scriptures that I've been reading in my chronological reading and today I started a new prayer journal. I love assigning verses to my sons and then I like to encourage them with what I read. I keep them there on my window while I sit at the table to remind me to pray over them often. They may actually stay there all week. 

I've been praying very intentionally and specifically over our sons in the past few weeks. For anyone that thinks our life is always sunshine and peonies, it's not and we walk through some difficult things with each of our sons on a pretty regular basis. On the bright side of that, Todd and I are closer than ever and better teammates than we've ever been before thus far in our marriage. I won't share any of that here, out of respect for them, but know that we go through it with them. I recently heard a song that is new to me and it's been on repeat for weeks now. I thought I'd share it here with you, in case you're in need of a song that can be turned into a prayer. Actually there are two such songs and I'll share them both below. 

This first video is In Jesus Name (God of Possible) by Katy Nichole. 

This last one is I Speak Jesus by Charity Gayle that I've shared before. I was recently singing it and praying it at the same time.

All of these things are connected to walking daily with Jesus. I pray, I read His word, I study His word and I worship Him through song. Music is a powerful tool that the Lord ministers through and there is something about putting on the praise music and blaring it through your home to get you up and moving. Todd has us hooked up with all these smart speakers in the house and now I can tell Google to play my worship music throughout the home or just downstairs. I love this and just saturate myself with God's word by listening. Like I said, I love to talk to people to find out what they're doing/reading/watching/listening to in their lives that they love. I hope you enjoyed all these things I talked to you about today. I would say the point is to find your own thing and tailor this example to suit you. I promise it makes a huge difference in walking through the daily struggles of life. 

Thanks for reading, friends! Love to all. ❤