Meditation Mondays - Accountability Partners

Whenever I start a new devotional or Bible study I have found recently that having an accountability partner has blessed me a lot. Some people don't know exactly what that is so I thought that I would explain it here and give you a few helpful tips on finding one or how to be one. It is so easy for us to get caught up with the busyness of life. We all have good intentions of starting a devotional or Bible study but sometimes we don't follow through. Things distract us and we mean well but sometimes we just get off track. Accountability partner is someone who helps to keep you focus and on track. They check on you to see how your quiet time is going but most of all they pray for you. 

Here are a few questions that will help you when deciding who would be a good choice as an accountability partner. 

1. Does this person share the same faith as you?

If the person doesn't share the same faith as you then probably they aren't the right choice to help you keep accountable. You need someone that shares the same values as you and your love for God. Just like the Bible talks about not being unequally yoked in a relationship it is the same when you are looking for an accountability partner as well. 

2. Do you feel comfortable with this person?

Next, being comfortable around them is another big issue. If you feel like you can't be yourself and real with them then they are probably the right choice. You need to feel like you can be honest with them and open. If you aren't comfortable with them it could cause you to not be completely honest with them and make you not want to tell them if you miss a day of devotions or quiet time. Make sure you are comfortable with the person. 

3. How often do you communicate with this person? 

I feel this is another key point. If you don't already communicate with the person chances are you won't communicate with them during your quiet time devotions as your accountability partner. The thing I always remember when choosing a person to help me is I need to already be communicating with them as least 3-4 times a week. It's very important! Being an accountability partner they need to check in on you at least 3-4 times a week if not more. It doesn't have to be long but even a simple text saying how's your quiet time going is acceptable. 

 

These questions are important! I hope this helps explain to you and help you understand more about accountability partners. I will be praying for you all as you think and pray about whether an accountability partner is right for you or if you want to be one. If you have any more questions feel free to comment or message me. I'll be happy to answer anymore of your questions. 

Blessings and Shalom,

Grace Mae <3 <3 <3 

Worship Wednesdays - The More I Seek You

This weeks song is by Kari Jobe. This song ties into what I wrote about on Monday. We need to seek God and Jesus in prayer. Hope you are encouraged but this song. Let the music just speak to you. Close your eyes and listen to the lyrics and just talk to God. 

Meditation Mondays - Prayer

Prayer is a powerful weapon and also a must need in your life. To me prayer is another way to connect and communicate with God. Prayer is so important. I like to think about it as a telephone straight to Heaven. I always start my quiet time out with prayer. Usually I will thank God for my blessings and for another day. Sometimes if I have certain requests to pray for I will do that as well. I ask Him to open up my eyes, ears and heart as I study His word. Sometimes I just keep quiet and listen for God to speak to me. There are times when I am praying for a specific person and God will speak to me and bring to mind a Bible verse or something. Here's an example: Saturday night I was praying for my sister because she has started a new college in following the path God is leading her down. God reminded me of a Bible verse and I prayed that over her. When I texted her the next day she was so encouraged by it. Don't be afraid to let the person know that you are praying for them. It could be a blessing to them. One quote I came across on facebook and pinterest is so fitting for this topic I had to share. Pray when times are tough! Pray when times are great! Pray no matter what! So today my friends I encourage you to take your prayer life seriously because it will do wonders for your relationship with God and strengthen your faith. 

Blessings and Shalom,

Grace Mae <3 <3 <3 

Worship Wednesdays - Worshipping You

This has been a favorite for a couple years now. I thought it was appropiate to share this week with you. On monday we talked about worship music and worshipping God. This song is perfect. I love the bridge that says, "I'm gonna worship you forever, I'm gonna worship you" Let's worship God today and everyday because He is worthy of all our praise. As long as I am able to breathe I will worship God with my whole heart. 

Meditation Mondays - Worship Music

If you have been following my blog for some time now you will know that mucus is a big part of my life. Today I wanted to talk about Worship Music and how it can help with your quiet time. Ever since I could remember I would love listening to christian music. It wasn't until more recently as I got older that worship music became a big thing for me. 

There's something about getting into worship and prayer that makes me feel so refreshed and alive. I love just crying out to Him through song and just worshiping His Holy name. 

I encourage you to make a playlist of worship music and listen to it before and during your quiet time. I promise you that it will change your life. It did mine. I invested in buying spotify. I listen to enough music each month to justify paying. I have many different playlists on there but my most used one is called Quiet Time. Today I will name just a few of my favorites that are on my playlist for you. These are ones I listen to everyday. I love them!!

QUIET TIME PLAYLIST

Holy Spirit - Francesca Battistelli

Stand in Awe - Phil Wickham 

Let It Be Jesus - Christy Nockels

Refine Me - Travis Cottrell 

Jesus - Chris Tomlin

Nothing More - Aaron Shust

Overwhelm Me - The Village Church 

O Come to the Altar - Elevation Worship 

Faithful - Chris Tomlin

Satisfy - Aaron Shust

O Praise the Name (Anastasia) - Hillsong Worship

Glorify You Alone - Gateway Worship 

The Cause of Christ - Kari Jobe 

Do you have a favorite worship song? Let me know in the comments below. 

Blessings and Shalom, 

Grace Mae <3 <3 <3

Worship Wednesdays - Oceans Hillsong United

Today's Worship Wednesday song is my theme for the year and goes along with my word of the year. I love the line in this song that says "Take me deeper then my feet could ever wander." I want to go deeper in His Word and deeper in my relationship with Him. Hope you are blessed by this song.

Meditation Mondays: Deeper Word of the Year

Every year I know people that choose a word. I personally never really have but this year I decided that I wanted to choose a word for the year. Today I would like to share it with you.

My word for 2017 is deeper. Over the last year I have come to realize He is all I need and this year I want to dig deeper. 

I want to grow deeper in love with God. 

I want to go deeper in my relationship with Christ. 

I want to go deeper in studying His Word. 

D- stands for depending only on Him

E - stands for He is enough for me

E - stands for He empowers me

P - stands for my prayer life of seeking Him

E - stands for He is my everything and more

R - stands for my relationship with Him 

Throughout the year I want to incorporate my word of the year in my everyday life. What word did you pick for the year? How will you incorporate it into your life this year? Let me know in the comments below. 

Blessings and Shalom,

Grace Mae <3 <3 <3 

Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017

Happy New Year Everyone! I still can't believe it's 2017. Did the year seem to go by fast to you? I know it sure did for me. I had every intention on posting this Sunday but sadly I didn't have time.  

As you probably have noticed there wasn't a devotional up on the blog yesterday for our Meditation Mondays. I decided to take the week off and start posting again regularly next Monday. I'm getting over a cold and finishing up finalizing a few exciting things for the blog. I hope you don't mind. 

First off I would like to remind everyone what this blog was started for. The blog verse or motto is Romans 1:12 "when we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours." This verse was given to me by God last year and I have held fast to it and put it into practice throughout this blog. 

2017 is going to be a great year for the blog. I am currently writing for two other blogs as well as this one so I needed some help. I'm really excited to bring new writers to the blog. I'm still working out details and scheduling but can't wait to share them with you all. We will still continue with Mediation Mondays and Worship Wednesdays as well as starting to post on Fridays. 

Another thing I'm excited about is being more active on our Instagram and Facebook pages. I'd like to also do more live events for you. A couple videos each week where we can just chat about how God is working in our lives. Another new thing is I am going to post each Sunday afternoon on the Facebook page a post where you can share your prayer requests so that we can all be praying for each other. 

I would just like to take a little time and tell you a couple of my personal goals for this year. Every year I have big ideas and plans for goals I want to reach but never seem to follow through. This year I thought that I would make more reasonable ones that are easy to achieve. 

1. Spend more time diving deeper into the Bible. I want to know God more and study His Word consistently throughout the year. I'm planning to do a few Bible studies this year to help me reach my goal. I already know God but I want to know Him more. My personal word for the year is Deeper. I want to goes deeper then I have before. I will talk more about this in another post sometime. 

2. I want to write more. I get stressed out a lot on my writing because I always manage to wait until the last minute to write. This year I want to focus on writing quality articles and devotionals not just to get them done. It goes along with my word for the year for this blog and writing. My word is Quality. I want whatever I do for my writing or for One Girl One Life One God to be the best quality it can be.

3. Spend more time with the people I love and care about. Life is short and tomorrow is never promised. I want to live life having no regrets. No regrets about wishing I would've hung out with a friend or just talked to a loved one more. I want to cherish every moment as if it were my last. 

What are some of your goals for 2017? I'd love to hear about them. Let me know in the comments. 

Blessings and Shalom, 

Grace Mae <3 <3 <3