It’s not only young adults who need to learn the basics. I find myself learning things often that I wish I’d known early in my young adulthood. But God is so wonderful and loving, that it’s never too late to learn what He wants us to learn, be who He wants us to be, and go where He wants us to go. Here are some things that I’ve done to get back to the basics of life and improve different areas of my life.
- Get a good Bible reading plan.www.biblegateway.com has a Bible reading plan that sends out daily reminders for what you should be reading that day. The goal is to read the Bible in a year – reading 1 passage from the Old Testament and 1 from the New Testament daily. Reading the Bible consistently everyday will at the very least show you what areas you need to improve in your life. That’s because you’ll see for yourself what God says about every area of your life, and if you’re honest with yourself you’ll see how you measure up.
- Ask friends you trust to hold you accountable. Your close and trustworthy friends will know you well enough and love you well enough to tell you the truth in love. Ask them to remind you when “you’re doing it again” or call you out when “you’re getting weird” – in love, of course. It’s easy to slip into habits and behaviors when we’re the only ones who see them. But if you really want to get better in certain areas, you’ll need feedback. Your friends aren’t perfect – but sometimes they can see you a lot better than you can see yourself. You can also help hold them accountable in the areas they want/need improvement in.
- Ask God to show you who He wants you to be. Then ask Him to reveal to you who you are now and where you are. When He shows you, ask Him to show you how to get from where you are to there. Now, this is not always 1-2-3, so-simple, so-easy. If you’re like I was, you need to understand what God’s voice sounds like. Then you need practice in hearing it during everyday life. I’m not an expert on that, but I do know a great resource that can help you better understand how to hear God’s voice. I truly believe it’s not just enough to ask God questions if you want to go deeper in your relationship with Him and higher in your life with Him. This might take more frequent prayer and fasting. But if you’re really serious about improving your life, it will be worth it.
As always, these are only suggestions. But I know that these 3 things worked for me. I went from being unfulfilled in life and constantly having this nagging feeling that “this could not be it”…to knowing that I am right in the middle of God’s plan for my life – even though I may not have made the decisions He would have wanted me to make prior to now. Just don’t give up. God is the author and perfector of your faith and can take anything you have and turn it around for His glory – if you totally submit to Him.