(Photo by Selma Komisky)

“How -To” Reacquaint with God

By Ashley Gomez-Morrison

These days, it’s easy to get lost in our daily routines, and even easier to feel stuck in our routines. This can even include our spiritual and faith-driven routine.

Whether your weekly routine includes going to church every Sunday, listening to worship music daily, doing daily devotionals or group Bible studies it’s even possible to feel stuck in our faith. So what do we do when this happens?

First off, it’s okay to feel this way and it happens to a lot more of us than we’d like to admit. Secondly, don’t feel discouraged if it takes more than a couple days, weeks, or even months to stop feeling “stuck” in your relationship with God. Remember that everyone’s faith journey is different and most times things won’t change overnight. And just like every other relationship you have in your life needs work, your relationship with God will also need some work from time to time.

So how can you get reacquainted with God? There are a lot of ways that you can begin to build and grow your relationship with God and most of them are pretty straightforward. However, they will not work for everyone. In thinking about the ways we can reacquaint with God several basic things came to mind.

1. Prayer
2. Journaling
3. Focusing on who Jesus and God are, and where they are working in your life.

Focusing on who Jesus & God are, and where they are working in your life.

Now, these seem like pretty basic things that everyone can do, which is true. However, I want to stress an important aspect that each of these three things share. That is, intent. Being open and truthful about your intent is a foundational starting point while reacquainting with God.

First, being intentional in prayer requires you to be open about your struggles. God knows how you feel, and He wants you to express it through prayer. In this way, prayer can be your first step to reacquainting yourself with God.

Journaling, whether you’re following a devotional guide or focusing on specific scriptures your intent matters. Try to think about what you already understand through your previous devotionals or scriptures and try to find another perspective around those same ideas. Take another look at the context surrounding the devotional guide or scripture, has your understanding of the context changed since your first reading and understanding of the devotional guide or scripture? Taking this into account as a new perspective can aid in your process to reacquaint with God.

Alongside journaling, revisit who God and Jesus are. This may sound obvious, but it might be the most important part of your reacquaintance with God. Think about where you have recently seen God show up in your life. It might be something as simple as keeping you safe through a car accident or seeing your family’s financial burden. By seeing God through these seemingly simple happenings of everyday life, it may further progress and inspire your reacquaintance with God.

Your journey to get reacquainted with God has the potential to be a long process, but certainly, the wait is worth the reward of a renewed, intentional relationship with Him.

The steps I have listed above are just the beginning of your renewed journey in your faith. This renewed faith journey does not need to be done alone, go through this journey with your husband or wife, friend, etc., and talk to your pastor or another church leader for encouragement and further resources to reacquaint with God.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

– Hebrews 11:6