When You Feel Stuck in Your Spiritual Life, Don’t Worry About Doing It “Right”

For the first time ever, I planted garlic this fall. It’s been ages since I’ve planted something completely different, something that required me to read the directions and something with an unpredictable outcome. Exhilarated at the prospect of a new crop, I did the research and learned that each small clove needed to be sunk two inches into the dirt, four inches apart. I turned the soil and pulled the weeds, half concerned that I was planting too early, equally worried that I was doing it too late.

Finally, with a gust of autumn confidence, I settled on, “I’m doing it! That’s what matters!” I finished the job with a blanket of leaves, bright red from the maples in the front yard—a whole wheelbarrow full, even though I could have easily left that last job to the birch tree whose branches overhang the garden from the west.

I surveyed my work with a silly grin of pride, but, ever the realist, doubts began to nibble at the edges of my delight. “Can two inches of soil and three inches of dead leaves really defend any living thing against the snow and freezing temperatures of a Maine winter? Have I just wasted an hour and a half of my life on this project?”

I won’t know the answer to either question until next spring, will I?

And in the meantime, I won’t worry about whether I was doing it “right.” I followed the directions to the best of my ability, and I’m going to trust God with the outcome.

Don’t Worry About Getting It Right

There’s a spiritual principle lurking along the edges of this story. I’ve heard from so many women who want to grow in their understanding of God’s Word and their confidence as Christ-followers, but they feel stuck.

Stuck Question #1:
“When I pray, I wonder if I’m asking God for the right things,” one woman haltingly confessed.

Hear the implied concern?

I remember telling her to pray about the things that come to mind when she’s trying to pray for the things she thinks she should be praying about. The distractions and rabbit trails may actually be our greatest needs. Someone once said, “Prayer dies from the effort to pray for things that don’t really matter to us.” Amen!

God is not looking for experts in prayer. He’s looking for people who DO IT!

God is not looking for experts in prayer. He’s looking for people who DO IT!

Tweet

Stuck Question #2:
“The Bible is so big. Where do I even begin?”

There it is again: “Am I doing this right?”

In Eat This Book, Eugene Peterson’s classic work on spiritual reading, he puts fears to rest with the assertion that how we read is more important than what part of the Bible we happen to open to on the average Thursday. “Reading is an immense gift, but only if the words are assimilated, taken into the soul.”

So whether you begin in Genesis or Matthew for a consecutive read-through or tiptoe through the Psalms in small doses, if you read thoughtfully and prayerfully, you are following the directions for reading God’s Word. He has promised to meet you there.

Planting garlic, cultivating a life of prayer, or sowing the seed of God’s Word in one’s own heart’s soil are all formidable undertakings in their own way. One thing, however, is certain:
If we don’t begin somewhere, we’ll never see growth.

Whether you begin in Genesis or Matthew or tiptoe through the Psalms in small doses, if you read thoughtfully and prayerfully, you are following the directions for reading God’s Word. He has promised to meet you there.

Tweet

And Now, Let’s Talk Books

The reader is given insight into what it was like to sit under the preaching ministry of Eugene Peterson over his years pastoring Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. The collection includes sermons for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time, capturing the rhythm of the church year. Read seasonally and devotionally, it’s an invitation to sync our hearts with the story of redemption in its flow through scripture and through the living of our days.

Holding You in the Light,

“Quit procrastinating. Love now. Don’t be forever putting off the most important act that is commanded.” #EugenePeterson in #LightsaLovelyMile via @WaterBrookPress

Tweet

Free Encouragement in Your Inbox…

On the third Thursday of very month, I send a newsletter with biblical encouragement straight to my subscribers’ email inboxes. Frequently, I share free resources, and the newsletter is where everything lands first. I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. If you should decide to purchase any of the books or products I’ve shared, simply click on the image, and you’ll be taken directly to the seller. If you decide to buy, I’ll receive a few pennies at no extra cost to you.

Many thanks to WaterBrook and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

Photo by team voyas on Unsplash