These questions are an attempt to create spaces where we can invite and allow God to speak into and guide our lives.  They are meant to lead to challenges to are methods of thinking, our habits, and our perspectives and let God redeem us from the inside out.  This is not intended to be a list to check off, in a “did-this, did-that” pragmatic approach, but instead to allow God’s guidance and leading to shape our decisions and the foundations they come out of.  You may discover that the issues and obstalces you are trying to face are in a completely different direction than the direction God wants you to head.

Questions…

1. Where and when do I feel most close to and most distant from God and where is God leading me through those times?

2.  What am I consciously dependent on God for in my life?  (aka, what in my life would change if God was not around?)  What can I be more intentionally dependent on God for in my life? (What areas in my life must I release my control of and my anxiety of into God’s hands?)

3. Where and how much am I giving and where and how much am I getting in my life. (Suggested categories: time / rest, hopes / dreams, relationships, sexuality, finances, social issues, knowledge, wisdom, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control).  How does does my heart match up with God’s on these areas?

The start of answers…

1. For me, understanding where I feel least close to God speaks louder to me than understanding where I feel most close to God.  This is because I’m realizing that when I feel distant from God it is my own fault.  I’ve either left him behind and run in the other direction, or have turned my back to him and have forgotten to acknowlege his presence in what I am doing at the moment.

2. Honestly and soberingly, I feel like a failure in answering this question, which is why I must ask it of myself more frequently.  Very little of my life is consciously or intentionally dependent on God.  I know that I like having control over as much as I can manage, and often try to control too many things, resulting in anxieties that make me forget God even more.

3. The suggested categories in is only the tip of the iceberg for this question.  A lot of times I wonder why someting I’ve worked on just doesn’t come out right and it’s usually because the pieces that made up the whole weren’t right.  I need to understand the simple relationship that what I put in my heart, mind and soul determines what comes out.