Have you ever had a friend rave about their mountaintop experience with the Lord only to be left feeling like there’s something wrong with you? The new Christian at church is discovering amazing truths in God’s Word every day and you can’t seem to make it past Leviticus. Maybe you’re diligently showing up for your quiet time with God but He’s the one who’s silent.
You might be right. Maybe you have this quiet time thing all wrong.
Perhaps you’ve been trying to follow a cookie-cutter approach to devotional time and it’s simply not working for you. If you’ve been following someone else’s prescription for what your time with God should look like, think again.
Here’s a little secret: you are unique.
How you made me is amazing and wonderful.
I praise you for that.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know that very well.
Isn’t that what we tell children, that they’re unique? I remind my kids all the time about how uniquely they’ve been made. They’re not the same as their friends. They learn differently, think differently. As a matter of fact, even though the two of them are ‘flesh and blood’ (siblings), they’re different from each other too. My son is very hands-on (kinesthetic) and thrives on any activity where he gets to make something. And while my daughter loves to read (visual), I’ve noticed that she remembers things best by listening (auditory).
The way you learn is unique. The way you connect with God is unique. Your devotional time with God should be unique too!
Let’s take some cues from our unique learning styles to add a spark to our quiet time. Here are a few tips to try based on your individual learning style.
By the way, if you’re not sure what your learning style is, you can visit this link and take a short quiz. You will probably score in all 3 areas but the one with the highest percentage is your dominant style.
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For the Visual learner:
Studies show that the majority of us are visual learners. We are most engaged when we read or watch something. Your devotional time should have a good amount of reading. Having said that, you can consider adding some fresh new ways to get time in God’s Word.
Consider these resources:
- First 5 App – this daily devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries is sent directly to your mobile device. It includes scripture verses, beautiful images, and devotional thoughts, followed by a prayer. I love that the devotional takes you through a book of the Bible at a time, so it’s not at all haphazard. You can use the free app by itself or dig a little deeper by using their Experience Guides which you can order from the Proverbs 31 store. The Experience Guides typically cost between $8 and $13.
- Praying the Promises of the Cross (affiliate link) – this resource by Arabah Joy and Amanda Criss takes you through individual bible readings for 40 days. Each Bible verse is a Christ-centered promise from God! It involves kinesthetic learning too, as it also engages you in re-phrasing the scripture in your own words, writing your own prayer and praying it back to God. You can hear from Arabah Joy about how this prayer journal transforms her day by reading this article. The 40 daily mini-devotionals and prayer journal sheets cost just $12 and you can purchase directly by clicking on the image below.
- P.R.A.Y. Prayer and Scripture cards – these business-card-sized printables are a fun way to take God’s word with you throughout the day. You get a free download with 5 scriptures and the corresponding prayers. In addition to the visual cue, you can also appeal to your auditory side by reading the scriptures out loud and committing them to memory.
For the Auditory Learner:
If the spoken word appeals more to you, you will do well to include lots of resources that allow you to hear God’s word.
Consider these resources:
- YouVersion Bible app – this  popular free Bible app has many features including the ability to download various audio versions of the Bible. My husband loves this so much that he starts his quiet time listening to the Bible and keeps it playing while he’s getting ready for work. It’s a handy on-the-go resource as well.
- Online sermons – many churches upload their weekly sermons to YouTube and other video apps so you can easily access them at any time. The fact that they’re usually free is a good reason you should take advantage of the opportunity. On YouTube you can use the search feature to find a sermon by pastor, church name, or topic.
For the Kinesthetic Learner:
I am amazed by all the fun ways we can liven up our devotional times. If you love making things with your hands or simply enjoy getting creative, then the following tips are just for you.
Consider these resources:
- Verse-mapping – I recently heard of this from Betsy at Faith Spilling Over and have been intrigued ever since. This is a fun way to dig deep in God’s word. The picture below is from one of Betsy’s devotional times where she used verse-mapping. Doesn’t that look like fun? You can read how she does it here.
- Scrapbook Journaling – this is another way to use your creative flair to connect with God. Johanna at Devoted to Maker shows just how she’s been adding a spark to her devotional time using scrap-book journaling. The beauty that she creates through her scrapbook journal is in itself a way of worshiping God.
I encourage you to use your learning style to awaken your quiet time. No matter your learning style, there’s something that you can try today to help you reconnect with God. I’m sure it will rekindle a spark and I’d love to hear how it goes.
Your turn
How do you use your learning style to wake up your time with God?
Which of these resources will you try next?
If you enjoyed this post, I’d really appreciate if you would pin it on Pinterest or share it on Facebook so that your friends might also be blessed by it. Both of these are great ways to spread the shine!Â
Wishing you blessings!
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LOVED this article!
Oh, I’m so glad you did, Jodi. I really appreciate your visit and those kind words!
Blessings!
This was so neat! I loved the different tips for different learning styles. It really made your post stand out from others I have read about quiet times. You’re right – we ARE all unique, so why shouldn’t our devotion times be? Great stuff! And your blog is beautiful, by the way!
Lisa, you are so sweet. Thanks for your encouraging words about my blog and this post. Please feel free to pass it along.
My hope is that God’s words will speak even more clearly than mine — all to His glory. Thank you!
This is such a wonderful lesson to apply and learn! We are all different and comprehend God’s truth in different ways. We are not all cookie cutters of each other and our comprehension will take on different facets of how we worship and absorb God’s truth! Thank you for this! It’s a blessing!
Hi Lil, how sweet of you to visit. I’m glad you found it useful.
Thank goodness that we’re not all the same — what a boring world that would be! 🙂
Blessings, my friend!
Found you on #LiteracyMusingMondays. I hadn’t thought about how my learning style would be reflected in how “productive” my quiet time is. I will try some of these other methods.
I hope you have fun trying them, Trena! If you do, please let me know which one you like.
Blessings to you!
Marva–a marvelous post and freeing to those of us who are creatives. I have the deepest moments with my Lord when I’m creating or taking in the visual delights of creation. I hear words and soak in understanding that become story. When I write–I feel so close to Him. When I cut and paste, I joy in delight and rest. Unconventional, but I know the Lord in such a special way. Balanced with my love of reading and research–God is so good. Thanks for posting!
Joy!
Kathy
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Kathryn. There’s nothing that says our quiet time has to look the same as the next person’s. I love how you’ve described yours — it sounds like you’re worshiping as you go. What better way than to live in continual praise!
Thanks for the sparkle!
What a great post, Marva!
I love all of these ideas and suggestions that you have shared to spice up and add creativity to our quiet times!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Blessings,
Melanie
Thank you, Melanie. As with any relationship we really need to find ways to keep things fresh. Hope it adds a little sparkle to your times with God.
Happy weekend to you too, my friend!
Thanks for sharing! I love the idea of verse mapping. Our blogging community would be blessed if you shared this at the Literacy Musing Mondays Linkup. #LMMLinkup http://www.foreverjoyful.net/?p=937
Thank you, Leslie. I’ll be sure to visit #LMMLinkup this week.
If you do try verse mapping, I’d love to hear how it goes!
Thank you for this article! Amazingly it’s exactly what I needed! God blessed you for writing this! My time with God is reading short devotionals and signing but with reading sometimes I get annoyed cause of my attention span. This gave me good indications on how to connect with God.
Isabelle, I’m so happy that this inspired you. If you try something new I’d love to hear how it goes. Give yourself some grace and enjoy your special times with the Lord!
Thank you for this great post. We sometimes need to be reminded of our uniqueness and that God meets us all differently.
Although I use the Youversion online Bible making notes on my phone, I love to page through a real paper-Bible (if I can call it like that), making notes with pen on paper.
I know exactly what you mean, Rolene. I love my app as well but there are some days I just feel the need to get into the ‘book’. It could be all the other distractions that are available on my phone too, so getting back to the old way of doing things works better at times. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and leaving some sparkle!
I love that you talk about how God made us unique and how we interact with can be too! Love this Marva!!! Thanks for including my scrapbook journaling …. God is the Maker of it all!
Johanna, I loved your scrapbook journaling ideas and think that’s such a great way to be creative in worshiping God. Thanks for letting me share it so that others can be inspired as well.
Blessings to you, my friend!
This is so very helpful. I find I have different ways to learn God’s word and each adds a new perspective and helps keep me motivated.
Thank you, Michele. It’s all about keeping the flame burning just as we would with another relationship that means a lot to us. I’m just so grateful that God chooses to come near and ‘meets us where we are’.
Brilliant! I love that you point out that we all have different learning styles and provided ways to “add spark” to each individual’s devotional time. I appreciate you!
Thanks so much, Valerie. I appreciate you too and I’ve been enjoying your #100HappyDays linkup every week.
Oh I love how you incorporated personalities into this!!
Hi Keri, God really did make us unique and I’m sure He longs for us to worship Him in ways that move us. He’s an amazing God that way! Thanks for the visit!
I Love this post! I am going to Pin it and tweet it for future reference! Your neighbor at #100HappyDays.
Yay, Jaime! I’m always blessed to see you smiling face and I love it when we’re neighbours. Thanks for stopping by!
Marva, this is amazing! I LOVE all the great resources you’ve shared. This is the exact same thing that God has actually been working in my heart about – personality and different ways of connecting are a *gift* to be embraced, not something to wish we were different in! Especially in our walk with HIM. <3
Hi Stefani, isn’t it amazing how God works on us in similar ways. So glad to be on this journey with you, my friend!
This is SO useful! Pinning and tweeting.
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing this, Jennie. I really do appreciate you!
You have great ideas! I especially love the scrapbooking and the business sized cards ideas. I agree with you that everyone is different and not everyone can do quiet time with God the same way. My husband and I do our devotionals differently 🙂
We’re the same way. My husband’s style of quiet time is different from mine. I’m learning that each style is unique and that’s okay with God. Thanks for stopping by, Renee!
Wow, what an eye-opening perspective! I love it. Sharing right now with my Bible study sisters! Stopping by from Worshipful Wednesday!
I’m so glad you liked it, Elizabeth and hope that your Bible study sisters enjoy it too. Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve not thought about the role our learning styles play in whether or not we are connecting with our devotional time. This is good stuff, my friend!
So glad you liked it, Ginger. I really believe God wants us to love him with all our minds and that can look so different for each of us.
Wow, I never thought of this. How our learning styles can affect our quiet time. These are some great ideas for livening things up! Just pinned and sharing on facebook later!
So glad you liked it, Betsy. I loved your verse mapping and think it’s such a good fit for kinesthetic learners. Here’s to spicing things up a bit! 🙂
These are great ideas and something I’ve never really thought about! We all learn differently so why would our quiet times look the same!? I’m kinesthetic and I’ve tried Bible journaling but never stuck with it. Think I’ll give it a try again! Great post!
Michelle, I think the key for me is to keep mixing things up so I don’t fall into a rut. Feel free to try one of the other tips — you might be surprised and stumble on something that really inspires you. Keep me posted, won’t you?
These all look like very good resources. I think I’m somewhere between visual and kinesthetic. Often I will read scripture and then write out my prayer. I also use an art journal but not necessarily during my quiet time. I might try it, though. Thanks for sharing all these good ideas! Blessings to you, Marva!
Thanks for stopping by, Gayl. I’m a very visual person but I also find myself reading then writing my prayer. I think that’s mostly just to keep my mind from wandering 🙂 . If you try the art journal for your quiet time, I’d love to hear how it goes.
These are great resources!!! Thanks for putting a list together, it’s nice to see all in one place! 🙂
Thank you, Kayla. It put a smile on my face to see how we were thinking alike today. I loved your bible journaling post! I’m leaving the link right here so that others can find it too: http://bit.ly/1R0GoUr
These are great tips! I have recently started experimenting with Bible Journaling…I’ll let you know how its going! 😉
Yay, Robin! I can’t wait to hear more and see the results. I’m sure it will be a beautiful way to worship God!
These are great tips and resources! Thanks for sharing, I will be using a few of them for sure!
Oh, I’m so glad you find them helpful, Liz. I would love to hear how it goes when you do give them a try.
Thanks for stopping by.
Blessings!