Though February is over and I haven’t let you in on it yet, I’ve been mulling over another area of Rest – the area of Spiritual Practices. If you’ve read any of the Thoughts from a Recovering Fundamentalist, you’ll know that what I experienced growing up was anything but Restful. But the Lord has been doing a work in me through a series of events, books, a conference called Allume, and different blogs. He’s been whispering to me in ways that I couldn’t imagine about things that I could never have considered having a place in my heart and life.

The idea of Spiritual Practice has only recently started to feel comfortable and maybe that’s because I’ve started to see the doing in a different light. God is showing me, ever so gently, that the things that I disdained, can actually draw me closer to Him.

There are several areas of Spiritual Practice but two that I want to focus on this month are the Daily Examen and Lent. I’ve researched the Daily Examen and there are several parts to it. According to Loyola Press you start with Stillness, Gratitude, Reflection, Sorrow, and lastly, Hopefulness. The idea of the Examen is so appealing because it is done in quietness. Part of this pursuit of Rest means slowing down and taking time to just be – to just be with God.

If you would have told me twenty years ago that my 35 year old self would be researching Catholic websites for instruction, I would have thought you were a liar. But maybe it isn’t so much how far I’ve drifted from my upbringing, but how close God is bringing me to Him.

These practices, they aren’t about approval or being ‘good enough’. They are meant to draw us closer to the Heart of God. And I yearn for that.

I yearn for the peace and rest that comes only when we are right up next to the Father.

It’s been a month now since I started the ‘Rest Challenge’. And, I have to admit, it’s been rather difficult at times, but I have learned a lot.

If you haven’t read the first post, for this month I gave up Talk Radio and started to limit my Social Media time. Social Media is still something that I need to work on, and as much as I would love to be able to uninstall the FB app from my phone entirely (anyone know how to do that?), I’ll just have to work on staying logged off and setting specific times for that particular activity.

As for the Radio, well, that’s another matter. At first, I just didn’t turn on the regular station and kept it on our local Christian station. That got tiresome after awhile because, as much as I like the music, I can’t stand the fluff that they talk about. Let’s just say, I’m not into cat videos (please don’t hate me).

My husband suggested that I install the app for another station further away that had teaching in the morning. And, that worked out okay, until the app quit working. So, now a dilemma.

I know, it’s just radio, right?! But I realized after having it off all day long, that 5 o’clock would hit and I would be itching to turn on the talking heads. And then it clicked –

I needed to hear another adult because I knew that it would be another 1.5 hours until my husband came home.

So, after some thought and looking around, I finally figured some things out and here is a list of what I’ve replaced Talk Radio (aka “all Gloom and Doom, all the Time”) with, and hopefully some of these will spur some ideas for you too.

1. Podcasts – Kat Lee over at Inspired to Action and How They Blog, has some great podcasts on developing as a women/mom, and writer if you’re into that sort of thing.

And, I’m a nerd, but I got really excited when I found out that there are gardening podcasts – who knew!

2. Pandora Radio – I love to listen to music and Pandora seems to completely fit that love/need that I have. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a streaming music app that you can download to your device. One of the features that I love is that you can customize your stations according to artist and Pandora will play artists similar to the one listed on your station. The stations that I’ve found to be particularly good have been Rend Collective, Sovereign Grace, Matt Maher, and Judah and the Lion (if you’re into Americana folk music).

3. Audio Books – I’ll admit it, I’m listening to the Chronicles of Narnia. They’re awesome even as an adult. Librivox is a great resource for free audio books. Our local library has audiobooks for download and also has those ( I’m going to get technical on you) headset/books that you can check out just like a normal book. Only drawback to those is you have to provide your own batteries and headset.

So, there you have it. All in all this month has been difficult yet good. I’ve learned that I don’t need to always have noise around. Quiet is restful. 

Looks a lot better now, doesn’t it 🙂

How did your month of Quiet Rest go? Do you have any tips or tricks that you implemented in your pursuit of Rest?