How to Increase Your Relationship with God

I once read a definition about peace that said that peace is the calmness you feel in your heart, soul and mind, because you know that despite the storm you may be facing, all is well.

For me, this peace comes only from God. During one of the most heartbreaking times in my life, it was only God who brought me peace.

And so today I would like to share with you how you can strengthen your relationship with God and cultivate this peace, too.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to A Life Designed.
 
My name is Tina Haisman. I teach busy moms how to get everything done and still have time and energy for themselves. My passion is for helping women create more heart-to-heart connection with their husband and children so they can feel deeply fulfilled in those most important relationships.
 
The topic of today’s podcast is …
 
How to Strengthen Your Relationship with God
 
But before we get started I want to let you know I have created a free download call the Ultimate Guide to Guilt-Free Self-Care. I’m really proud of this guide. It’s a Guide to help you take care of yourself in mind, body and spirit so you can feel like your best self every day. And that topic goes just perfectly with our theme today! Visit my website tinahaisman.com to download it.
 
Also, I have a FREE private group on Facebook where you can come to get inspiration for your life. It’s called A Life Designed. It’s actually a happy place on Facebook. I hope you’ll join us!
 
Now let’s Dive IN and talk about …  
 
How to Strengthen Your Relationship with God
 
When I think about this, I think about the Proverbs 31 woman, specifically verse 26, that says: She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
 
Wisdom. Wisdom comes from faith. From God. As moms, we need a whole lotta wisdom! So often we rely on our own strength, when instead, we should be relying on God.
 
And so, it is important for us to make our relationship with God a priority in life. When we build a relationship with God, we can approach life and all of it’s challenges from a much more whole, peaceful and authentic state.
 
When we are disconnected from God
1)     We feel more stressed, negative and unhappy.
2)     We are relying on our own strength to solve our problems.
3)     We become exhausted, disconnected and disillusioned.
 
By contrast, when we have a great connection with God,
1)     We feel more fully alive.
2)     We feel more peaceful and purposeful.
3)     We make our choices and decisions from wisdom.
 
Let’s really look at this for minute….
 
My client Jessica came to me because she was feeling very unfulfilled in life. She was in her late 30’s and a mother of 2 little girls. She had been married for 7 years. She was questioning her purpose. She was bored with the daily routine of life. And she had lost her passion. She didn’t feel like she had anything to look forward to in her days. She was tired all of the time. She felt resentment a lot toward her husband and little girls. She was afraid that this was all there was to life.
 
One of the things we discovered through working together was that she was stagnant in her relationship with God. She had the desire to pursue her faith more, but her husband didn’t, and he wasn’t very supportive of her efforts.
 
Sometimes Jessica would take the girls and go to church without her husband, but she felt so lonely without him. She resented him for not going. She thought he was wrong. And that he wasn’t setting a good example for their girls. She really wanted him to be a part of her spiritual walk. She felt like they were growing apart. It got to a point where she wondered if she should leave the marriage.
 
So, Jessica and I really worked on this to see how she could increase her faith life for her own well-being and then see what would happen with her husband and her marriage.
 
So, we spent time and looking at spiritual growth opportunities Jessica was interested in. What would fill her soul.
 
Jessica is not alone. There are many of us who feel like we need a little spiritual makeover from time-to-time. So, I’d like to share some options with you today that could be options for you to increase your faith life. I invite you to take what resonates and leave what does not.
 
So, for some of us, going to weekly church services is one way to increase our connection to God. Putting yourself in His presence and learning from what your pastor has to teach that week will get you going!
 
But, most spiritual people will tell you that going to church on Sunday isn’t enough. If you really want to have a connection with God, you need to bring him into every moment of your life. I know that will take time for all of us to get there. The idea is not that we have to be perfect. But that we are making effort and progress!
 
So, let’s talk about some other things you can do to increase your spirituality. There are lots of ways. We will just talk about 5 today.
 
1. Spending time in daily prayer. This doesn’t have to be formal. You can start small with 5-10 minutes if it feels overwhelming. But take time to thank God for your blessings, ask him for the help you need and pray for others in your life. Here’s a pro tip! Write down your prayers if you can. This helps me in 2 ways. It keeps my mind from drifting off to thinking, instead of praying, and it produces a record of answered prayers. This will buoy your faith for sure!

You can also use devotionals during your prayer time to increase your connection with God. Devotionals based on scripture are a lovely way to see how scripture is relevant to your life. You can pick any topic that you would like some guidance on and see what God says about it and get teachings on it from wise spiritual leaders. There are apps for your phone, and, of course, printed books you can buy. My favorites are Jesus Calling and Finding Rest.
 
2. Participate in a bible study. This is a great extension of your weekly church experience. It’s an opportunity to connect with friends over scripture and learn something new at the same time. You get to hear other people’s stories about how God is present in their lives. It’s very motivating and encouraging.
 
3. Another way to increase your faith life is by incorporating more faith-based music, movies, and books into your life. Expose yourself to life-giving messages to build up your belief! Christian music is easily found on your radio or online, you can search for Christian movie ideas online and scour amazon for Christian fiction books for enjoyment. The idea is to surround yourself with more of these faith-based messages to help increase your faith. One of my favorite Christian fiction books is called A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin. It is set during the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Highly recommend it!
 
4. A super-fun way to increase your faith is by pretending you are on a God hunt every day. Approach your day looking for where God is showing up. What prayers is he answering? What is he telling you? What is he steering you toward? What is he steering you away from? He will talk to you in the ways that he knows you will hear him.
 
Just the other day I was sitting with my eyes closed and asked God, “Where are you?” I’ve been waiting on an answer to a prayer since November. Just at that moment through my eyelids, I could see that the room lit up, the sun came out from behind the clouds. I opened my eyes to see it more clearly, and I heard God say, “I am right here.” Whoa. That was really cool. And it’s just one example of many that I have. So pray, and be on the lookout!
 
5. Volunteer for a cause near and dear to your heart. You will see God at work there. And you can take pride in the fact that you are serving others as God’s hands here on earth. Some of us like to volunteer with children. Some with pets. Some with the elderly. Some with the poor. Some with the military. And some with the sick. It makes no difference as long as it fills your heart and makes you feel more connected to God.
 
Back to my client Jessica. She worked out a sweet little plan for herself and got to work on incorporating faith into her life every day. Also, she stopped waiting around for her husband’s approval to pursue her faith.
 
In the meantime, she prayed for her husband’s relationship with God, instead of nagging him about it. This. Might seem small, but it is HUGE! This was her letting God “parent” his child. Right? It’s not up to us to parent our husbands.
 
Eventually, he was occasionally asking to come to church with her and the girls on Sunday. It was a wonderful step in the right direction!
 
So, if you would like to increase your connection to God, I have a Simple action step:
 
The single most important thing you can do to increase your relationship with God is to thank him daily. Each day, write down 3 blessings you noticed that day and why they were a blessing. The writing it down part is very important. This one step will dramatically increase your spirituality.
 
I know all of this is easier said than done, so if you would like to work on this with a coach, reach out to me. I would love to work with you.
 
Thank you so much for listening in. Please let me know if you have any specific questions.
 
Remember! To download your free Guide to Guilt Free Self Care and join us in the Life Designed community on Facebook.
 
Thank you! See you next week!