Others things I do to fortify my faith include: 

• Reading the Psalms for direction, strength, comfort and revelation.  Psalm 23 remains the best for keeping me focused on who the Lord is to me.  Because He is my shepherd, I need not want, fret or fear.  Because He is my shepherd, I can know I am “Safe in His Arms.” (Listen to Vickie Winans sing the song. You’ll be blessed.)

• Talking with friends or family who know how to encourage and help nudge me along.  I am fortunate to have loved ones who offer godly counsel when I need it and who won’t let me get away with the easy “I’m okay.”

• Walking, which helps me expend worrisome energy and redirects my straying thoughts. As the Bible teaches, it’s important, especially in such times, to think on those things that are true, honest and of good report.  I use the few Scriptures  I have memorized, such 2 Corinthians 10:5, to tame my thoughts and centered them on God.

•  Journaling when I don’t want to talk with anyone else, when I need to clarify my thoughts or when I want to write my prayers and conversations with God. By revisiting by journal entries, which I have been doing lately, I can see how God has answered prayers and worked things out in my favor. (I also notice  the things I have not done that I said I would do, but that’s another blog.)

• Listening to music, which just delights my soul and transports to heavenly places. Two songs especially have ministered to my spirit today. I have been listening to “Drawer Me Deeper” by Rev. Kip Mickelson for weeks now and turned to it again this afternoon.  The entire CD is tender, soothing and inspiring. It remains just as fresh as it did when I purchased it from Rev. Mickelson several years ago at a local Baptist conference.  (I’ll post the lyrics to “Draw Me Deeper” when I find them.)  The other song that brought a smile to my face today is Indie Arie’s “Little Things.” She one of my favorite musicians and today her song helped push me outside myself and into a better space.

What about you? What do you do to refocus your thoughts on God’s blessings?

Related posts:

1. Taking time to check my ‘real age’
2. Faithfully using our time
3. Praying for my friends

I’ve kept handy a copy of  an April Prevention magazine , which has a excellent walking plan, and I  even bought the magazine editors’ book, Flat Belly Diet, which says on the cover “A Flat Belly is About Food & Attitude. Period. (Not a Single Crunch Required!).” The book  provides an eating regime of fat-melting foods.  As simple and as tasty as the authors tried to make their recipes, following the eating recommendations still requires shopping, planning and discipline.  (Not  always my strong suits.)

It’s not just that at  my age I’ve put on weight that refuses to  move or that I want smooth, tight abs.  I know that having stubborn fat around the abdomen is unhealthy.  I walk to stay fit both physically and spiritually. My body is stronger because of my brisk, hour-long walks and so is my faith.

During my walks, I take note of the birds chirping and darting about. I notice the shape of the clouds and blueness or grayness of the sky.  I pass people of all shapes, colors and sizes and wonder where their life journeys have taken them. Occasionally, I’ve walked laps around the high school track near my home with a  stranger and we shared our stories.  

Praying for others is a big part of my walks.  As much as I talk to and petition God when I walk, I also listen to hear God speak to me. Some days it’s more difficult than others to quiet the chatter in my head, but I’ve been fortunate on more than one occasion to get calm enough to recall a song, a saying, a sermon or a Scripture that brings clarity to a situation.   Peace fills my soul when I walk, whether alone or with a friend.

Today as I walked around the track, I repeated the ancient Eastern Orthodox church prayer that we discussed in my Shalem Institute class on Monday night. I let the Jesus Prayer, as it has been known as for centuries, soak through me. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”   It’s a prayer that I’ve uttered many times before in its simplest itineration, “Lord have mercy.”

A good walk strengthens body and soul. It takes you to both familiar  and unfamiliar places and  gives you new insights.  And hopefully day by day, my walking will help melt away what age continues to pile on.  A thousand steps a day, that’s the goal.

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.  Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness.  I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” 

~Soren Kierkegaard

Related posts:

1. Flat belly, firm faith revisited: Discipline helps
2. Holding on with a knuckle-like faith
3. Deepening faith through spiritual direction