Who’s on your spiritual journey faith list?

My husband, Roger, went to a Kiwanis meeting, so I had dinner alone. Sometimes, it’s nice to have the house to yourself. My brain has been in overdrive and needed some quiet. We usually listen to music while eating, but I just wanted silence. I also felt the need to talk to God.

I’ve been experiencing up and down days in navigating this new role as president of the Network of Biblical Storytellers and wondered if I was making progress. Some days, it felt like I was flying high. Others, I felt depleted with little to show for it. I sometimes skipped my devotionals and felt empty spending time on an ever-growing to-do list.

I turned on the white lights from our Christmas tree, standing beautifully outside on our back porch, lit the candles on the table, and felt a warm glow from the lovely atmosphere.

My mind drifted to what I was currently reading. I’d committed to reading all of Lucinda Secrest McDowell’s books, and in Amazed by Grace, she had a chapter called Attracted to Godliness. She quoted a friend, Karen Mains, “My encounters with strangers have shattered the individual notion that I could find my own way to God alone. My spiritual journey cannot be a solo crossing.”

Lucinda writes, “One of the best ways to learn godliness is to observe it in the life of those around us, remembering we are all a work in progress.” She then follows with mentioning people who have contributed to her “pursuit of the holy life.”

With paper and pen, I started listing people who have done that for me and then had the idea to invite them to the table. I envisioned people I dearly love who contributed to my faith; some are living, and some have passed.

I invited my mother to sit at my right and Doug, my former minister, at the foot of the table. Doug helped me make a fork-in-the-road decision of getting my Master’s in Divinity or staying with Corporate America that has made all the difference in preparing me for what I’m doing now. I continued until all the chairs were filled and had to add more people standing around the table. (Yes, this was in my mind.)

All I felt was their presence, their smiles, their love. I envisioned each person smiling with such compassion in their eyes. There was no accounting for wrongs, no judgment about what I accomplished or didn’t. There were no questions of how, what, or why. It was this radiant feeling of pure support, encouragement, and acceptance about where I was right now on my faith journey.

It made me think this is what heaven must be like. To be surrounded and accepted with the knowledge of God’s love.

My heart overflowing, I was at peace, content, at ease, and filled with tremendous gratitude. “My spiritual journey cannot be a solo crossing.”

We are more demanding of ourselves than we would ever be with someone else. There is a reason Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, and when he said, “For where two or three are gathered together, I am there also.” Matthew 18:20. We are a work in progress and we need each other to help develop a strong faith.

The world we live in is always busy.  Do we come away to dream, think, and commune with God? Accept the gifts God gives us, understanding it’s just what we need at that moment. Twenty-nine times, the Bible states about Jesus’s need to commune with God.

“Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” Luke 5:16

Let us realize how important it is to spend time alone and with those who can help us growing our faith.

Who’s on your faith list to support you in your spiritual journey?