Holy Grace family: I hope this year is off to a good start for you and your families!
Today, I want to share effective resources and/or practices that can help you increase and maintain your spirituality. These have played a key role in my life, especially during challenging times.
1. Prayer and Meditation. I’ve mentioned before the importance of prayer and meditation for spiritual growth and to be spiritually “fit” when challenging times comes. All prayers serve a purpose. There are prayers for petitions, confession, intercession, praise and thanksgiving, and adoration. Prayer raises our consciousness of and connect us to the love of God. Sometimes all it takes is just one prayer to change everything. That's why prayers are also considered as a "medium for miracles". On the other hand, when we meditate, we increase our level of awareness about our "here and now". It means to be centered, be physically relaxed, emotionally calmed, mentally focused, and spiritually aware.
2. Spiritual Reading. Find a good spiritual book. As Catholic, I am moved to read the Bible but I accompany this reading with other books such as God will Carry You Through or God Came Near both by Max Lucado. Currently, I am reading If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg. In his book, Ortberg invite us to consider the incredible potential that await us outside our comfort zone. These are some examples of spiritual readings that feed your spirituality and help you continue growing personally.
3. Be Grateful. There is always something to be grateful for. In the morning, I make a list of five things that I am grateful for each day. It helps me maintain perspective in life and realize how blessed I am. A grateful heart is a loving heart. A heart becomes grateful when it experiences the significance of the Love of God. By being grateful, a person develops a deeper appreciation for the life he or she has been given, even amidst difficulty.
Following are three apps that I use daily for prayer and meditation:
- Abide. This is a prayer and meditation app that can help you find peace and serenity. You can listen to Biblical meditations. Sleep better and stress less with meaningful stories.
- Hallow. This is a prayer app that offers guided meditation sessions to help us grow in our faith and spiritual lives, and find peace in God.
- Calm. This is a guided mindfulness and meditation app that can help you increase your level of awareness about the “here and now”. It also offers relaxing meditations and stories to help you sleep.
I hope you find these resources practical and valuable for your spiritual journey. If you have other resources or practices in addition to the ones presented in this post, feel free to share them with our Holy Grace community so we can all continue growing spiritually and personally.
Peace, Love & Service,
Laura W.
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