Going into FCA I thought everything would just come naturally. I thought that reading my Bible daily would just somehow become a part of my everyday life and that I would pray consistently throughout the day. I thought that my habits would change, and that I wouldn’t deal with the same temptations that I’ve struggled with all my life. I believed that I would wake up every day, ready to serve but those things just don’t happen. To be honest, I’ve gone weeks without reading my Bible, I haven’t been praying every day, my habits haven’t changed, I still struggle with temptation, and I wake up tired all the time. I can’t just say something and be naturally good at it; everything comes through practice. One of my least favorite sayings that my mom said to me growing up was, “What you practice is what you’re good at.” Lately I’ve been putting the wrong things into practice.
You can ask almost everyone I know that I love to watch movies and TV shows. :) I’ve gotten really good at it because it’s what I’ve practiced. It’s become a part of my daily routine. I probably watch at least an episode of a show or a full movie every day and we all know that once you watch one episode it’s easy to watch the next. The only reason why I’ve gotten so good at watching movies and TV shows is because it’s what I’ve been practicing, but that’s not what I want to be good at. I want to know more about the Bible, I want to pray more, have consistent time with God and hear God’s voice, but I can’t do that while I’m scrolling on my phone or watching a movie. So this month I am going to be putting some new things into practice.
It’s definitely not going to be easy, but I’m going to take it a step at a time. To be honest I’m learning how to start at the beginning, which for me is really hard because I am a very competitive person, and so I just want be good at everything and in that I’m learning to humble myself. So, I’ll be taking it a day at a time, not setting specific goals like reading five chapters and praying for an hour each day. Don’t get me wrong, that would be amazing. I would love to do that but I need to walk before I can run. If I set my standards too high and I can’t meet them daily, that’s going to knock my self-confidence way down and I would be doing it for the wrong reasons. All God wants is our best and by taking it a step at a time I’ll get there.
By the end of this month, I want to have built up endurance to the point that spending time in the word, prayer, and surrendering everything I’m going through comes naturally. So like with watching movies and TV shows, it will become a part of my everyday life without making it a part of my daily checklist.
Practice is what makes you better. :)
Thanks for reading,
Kate Sodini
