The past few months have been historically challenging: global pandemic, economic shutdowns, stay-at-home orders, masked grocery shopping, fear of illness, fear of the future, and fear of each other. Anxiety, depression, or even just melancholy is a natural reaction to these current times.

While fear of safety hasn’t plagued me, the narrowing freedoms have resurrected ghosts I thought were long laid to rest. And, as the COVID-19 clock continued to tick, they became more Zombieland-like. I shared my struggles with my moms’ small group, and a member gave me some of the best spiritual advice I’ve ever received.

Start a God Conversation.

A “God conversation,” in this regard, is an imaginative, intimate journaling process with the Lord on a specific aspect you would like to explore or for which you’d like to be healed. While there are many different ways to journal with the Lord, what follows is my friend’s advice sprinkled with my additions.

How to Journal a God Conversation:

1. Get a new journal just for this time and conversation with the Lord.
2. Spend some time meditating on what God wants to be for you during this time that you haven’t allowed Him to be before. (This was a mind-blowing question for me!)
3. Decide on a special place to meet God in your imagination each time. It could be a beach, mountain top, or your favorite seats in a sports stadium. Pick any place that feels special and symbolic to you. Let yourself envision all the details  until you feel the wind breeze past your ears and smell the pines or ballpark hot dogs. 
4. Make sure to create an imaginary treasure box in your special place that you will open at the end of each session with God to see what He has for you.
5. At the beginning of each session, write in your journal “Dear God”-style and pour your heart and mind out to Him. Be honest. Be raw. Be vulnerable.
6. Close your eyes and meet Him in your special place in your imagination. Play it out like a movie. Slow. Vivid. DON’T SKIP THIS STEP! (Our imaginations are the closest we can get to being with and worshiping God in our human form — a powerful ability He created for us to use to meet with Him.) Let God direct this movie; let Him say what He wants to say. Wait for Him to bring words and pictures to mind.
7. Ask Him, each time, what He wants to tell you. And be willing to wait. Open your treasure box. Ask God questions about the contents.
8. Take the time to record in your journal any revelations and what was in the treasure box.

Pro Tips:

• Get a spiritual mentor or partner to support you during this time with intercessory prayer and be another avenue for the Lord to speak to you.
• Don’t show up every day with a “fix-it” agenda. (Guilty here!) The point is to grow a deeper, more intimate relationship with God, so spend plenty of time just being there with Him, focused on Him. (Joy, healing, and revelations are a natural byproduct of a deep relationship with the Father.)
• Play worship music throughout your day to open you even more to hearing God’s voice.
• Read The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life Into a Work of Art by Erwin Raphael McManus to learn about the power and importance of your imagination in your spiritual life.
• Read: Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When God Speaks by Pricilla Shirer.
• Meditate on Joyce Meyer’s “Knowing Who I Am In Christ” scripture list.

The Bible abounds with scripture on God’s holiness, power, and greatness, but maybe during this time, the most awe-inspiring scripture is John 15:15 (ESV).  “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

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