Caring for your soul requires that we connect His truth to our everyday lives. For years I struggled with how to do this. I would find I pray, but would never change. I would read truth, but fall into the same ruts. At a day retreat with John Ortberg in the 90’s I learned a reflective type of prayer that actually began to allow Christ to shape my spiritual life. “Reviewing the Day with Jesus” a time of solitude with Christ where we still our soul to look back and review our day with Jesus. In those moments we invite Him into our the last 24 hours…our decisions, our actions, our reactions & our feelings. We allow His truth to integrate into those moments of our lives and transform us. It’s a time that’s is best spent at the end of the day or the beginning of the next. For me it takes about 15 minutes, but the amount of time really isn’t important. It not so much about the length of time, but the depth of our time and allowing our soul to connect to our Savior.
5 Steps of Reviewing Your Day with Christ
- Be still for a moment and quiet your soul
- Acknowledge that Jesus is with you. Invite Him to teach you.
- Go back in your mind to when you first woke up. Watch the scene, as if on a screen. Continue going throughout your day, going from scene to scene. As you reflect on them, some scenes may fill you with gratitude, others with regret. This may lead you to pray for patience, greater love, courage, forgiveness or other virtues.
- Examine and reflect on your actions. Why did you act or respond like that? Were your thoughts, words and actions God glorifying? What loving sacrificial choices did you make – or fail to make? How did your choices impact the other person or circumstance? Don’t minimize or excuse your sin. Confess it and experience the grace of God. Allow Jesus to restore your soul.
- End with a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s mercy and love. Ask him to refresh your soul.
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