Three Ways to Connect with God

Recently, my relationship with God has felt more like a checklist item than something living and vibrant. The fault is mine. I haven’t been to church in over a month, partly due to traveling but also due to our family’s struggle to find a church where we feel a sense of belonging. We want to visit new places, but with COVID still out there and our kids vulnerable to infection, it’s hard to find the motivation to venture into a new community of strangers.

I haven’t stopped going through the motions of connecting with God. I’ve maintained a daily devotional reading and a few minutes of quiet meditation, but I seem to forget what I’ve read once I close the book, and my mind wanders all over the place during the silence. This isn’t the quality time with God I yearn for. Obviously, something has to change.

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt my daily quiet time become stale. Through trial and error, I’ve learned a few action steps that help get me back on track:

1. Prayer journaling. It requires time, but it helps me focus on the present and open up to God. I tend to share my heart and struggles more freely through writing.
2. Praying for others. There are times when I struggle to voice personal concerns, but speaking to God about friends, family, and the world tends to connect me to him. Interceding for others draws me closer to his heart and reminds me of his love for all of his creation, including me.
3. Extending my meditation time. I use an app on my phone that lets me choose meditations of one, three, five, or ten minutes. If I choose one or three minutes, usually because I’m in a hurry, then I don’t tend to get much out of it. When I spend five to ten minutes in meditation, it gives me the opportunity to quiet my mind and focus on what I’m doing. Paying attention to which option I’m choosing regularly helps me gauge my connection with God.

These three steps are usually effective at helping me get out of the quiet time rut and back into a growing, living relationship with God. Additional steps that have worked are reading a Christian nonfiction book, reading a Christian fiction book, finding ways to serve others and put my faith in action, reading my favorite Bible passages, making a list of the ways God has been faithful to me in the past, listing the current blessings in my life, and sharing my struggle with another Christian.

When I return to methods that help me focus my thoughts and heart on who God is, I’m reminded that he never leaves me. I may not feel close to him, but his presence in my life is secure. There’s nowhere I can go that will remove me from his care. I can try to shut him out, but he will always be waiting for me. He doesn’t pout or give me the cold shoulder. His arms are always open wide, ready to receive me.

I’m so grateful for God’s constant love. The knowledge that even when I mess up, I can still return as his beloved child gives me security.

During the times when I feel like God is absent, I’m heartened by the knowledge that all I have to do is begin to turn toward him, and he’ll embrace me. I’m the inconsistent one in our relationship. I get distracted or busy or lazy. But God is consistent. He doesn’t change. He doesn’t hold my fickleness against me. That blows my mind sometimes.

No wonder there are so many psalms that sing God’s praises. He’s amazing. His love for us is remarkable, even unfathomable! “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever” (Ps. 136:1 ESV).

Father, I’m so grateful that your love is not dependent on my behavior but on your character. Forgive me for the times when I am lazy and just go through the motions of spending time with you. Thank you for the ways you draw me back into a thriving, living love relationship. May I always be in awe of your great love for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scripture for Reflection

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” (Ps. 139:7-8 NIV)

“Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” (Ps. 107:8-9 ESV)

Reach for More

Are you struggling to connect with God? Choose one or two of the steps listed above and see if they help get you out of your rut. Keep trying new things until you find something that works.

Megan Byrd enjoys reading, writing, traveling, and introverting. She loves nothing better than discovering a wanted book in a thrift store or hiking alongside a river with her family or a good friend somewhere around her home of Asheville, NC. She’s the author of Between Us Girls and can be found chronicling her reading and writing journey @megan.e.byrd on Instagram or writing about life at www.meganbyrd.net.

Photograph © Laura Ohlman, used with permission