Prayerful Reflection on One's Experience

A fifth attitude necessary for discernment of God’s will is prayerful reflection upon one's experience:   In order to discern the will of God for us we need to bring our experiences to the Lord.  We need to lay bare our souls before Him: what are we thinking, what are we feeling, what are we desiring; in short, what is going on inside of our heads, so to speak. What works for me is to describe what is going on for me by writing it out. I begin with “Lord,……………………….”  And then continue writing about what is going on in me. After I have described my experience, I then ask the Lord to give me feedback. I switch hands and, without thinking, just start writing and see what comes up from the depth of my being where God dwells.

We need to sit in silence before the Lord each day, possibly 20 minutes of quiet time with the Lord.  If doing this is difficult for you, begin with 5 minutes a day and then increase it to 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.  It is very important to put ourselves at Jesus’ feet as learners. We need to come to the Lord and listen to God speak in the depth of our hearts. When thoughts distract us, gently and non-judgmentally, come back to the quiet.  To focus our minds, we might use a phrase or a word from Scripture to return our minds to the quiet.  Treat thoughts as passing clouds. Just let them pass through as clouds pass by the windows of our houses.