“things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”‭‭

Romans‬ ‭15:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This summer my top priority has been to choose the Word over the world, but I haven’t felt like I lived up to it well. You see the goal was to be in the Word before jumping into the world, but that’s not always “realistic” because I wasn’t being realistic.

Lately life hasn’t gone my way, and I felt like God must be ashamed of me because I couldn’t do it all. I couldn’t be in my journal, my Bible and go through my prayer list every day the way I preferred. Some days I didn’t even have the energy to do anything but say a quick prayer. This led to insecurity which is NOT of God.

All lies take root when we let the world’s chaos become louder than God’s whispers.

I brought this up with my mentor and she challenged me with the question: “did He put these expectations on you or did you place these on yourself?”

This question stunned me. Later I stopped and listened for his voice and this truth washed over me: He wants my heart not checked boxes.

He doesn’t require me to get up at sunrise to meditate on His Word. ⠀
⠀
He doesn’t require me to have an Instagram worthy devotional quiet time.⠀
⠀
He doesn’t require ANYTHING but my best and my WHOLE heart. ⠀

We need to listen to Him and allow Him to convict our hearts about how He wants us to delight in Him. Your time in His Word may look different each season, and that’s okay.

I want to still start my day off with Him even if it’s in the smallest of ways through prayer or even a verse in the morning. If I am truly going to focus on His Word and not the world, that means that I am not going to allow check boxes THAT I MADE to make me feel ashamed. I need to focus more on checking my heart rather than checking boxes.

In this series, we are going to go through different ways we can take action while striving to choose the Word over the world when we start our days in big and small ways. I will break down different ways I delight in the Lord so you can hopefully have some solid starting steps as you begin your own journey in the Word. We will discuss: devotional tools, Bible study, prayer, and making the most of our time in the Word.

We need to put our phones down, drop the guilt, choose His grace, and give Him our best- that’s all He wants. 

---

Cassie Nolin is a married spoonie who lives the chronic illness life with EDS + Co. (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and it’s comorbid conditions.) She challenges others to choose grace over guilt in goal setting, and is in ministry part time serving the online community through The Spoonie Study. She loves planting, hand lettering, and sharing the hope she has found in Jesus. Her blog, Living the Chronic Illness Life, is in the top 100 chronic illness blogs and her podcast, Chronically Cultivating, is produced by Speaking to the Heart Network. Cassie encourages women to live authentic and intentional lives through their diagnosis’ not in spite of them. You can learn more about her at www.livingthechronicillnesslife.com