All relationships can be difficult at times, but they should not be destructive to our well-being. Learn the difference between a destructive pattern and a difficult season with this free resource, “Is This Normal? 15 Red Flags You May Be Missing in Your Relationships.”

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How to Transform Your Time with God

June 2, 2015

Somewhere along my Christian journey I picked up a checklist of sorts with what good Christians are supposed to do:

Pray.

Read your Bible.

Go to church.

Don’t cuss.

Be nice.

Being the rule-following girl I am, I subscribed to these good disciplines. However, none of it felt personal to me. Day by day, I waited with great expectations to receive the zap of contentment and happiness good Christian girls are supposed to exude.

But I still felt restless. I still reacted in anger. I still felt a bit hollow. I was going through all the motions but didn’t feel connected to Jesus.

Others around me seemed very connected. They would talk of being ‘moved by the spirit.’ They would hear from God Himself. They would clap their hands and shout “amen” in the middle of a sermon that sounded like Greek to me.

I often felt like a weightless soul grasping at the air hoping to somehow snag this Jesus that was just out of reach. Have you ever been there?

Have you ever sat in a church service watching everyone else eagerly flip open their Bibles to the exact right passage while you were left sweating because you didn’t have a clue how to find what they were reading?

Have you ever walked out of church watching everyone else smile and seem so gentle while you mentally beat yourself up for throwing a fit with your family that very morning?

Suddenly this nagging sense creeps in that you don’t belong – that you’ll never get it – that you don’t have what it takes to be a Christian. That’s where I was. I lived there for a long time until someone challenged me to stop simply reading my Bible because it was a thing on my Christian checklist. They challenged me to experience God. And then they guided me through the process of connecting God’s Word in my everyday life.

If that’s where you are now, or if you know someone who’s in that place, we’re creating an app at Proverbs 31 Ministries called “First 5” that will help us give God our first thoughts of the day before social media or email distracts us.

I’m confident this app will guide you into His Word in such a way you experience God.

And I want to give you the opportunity to be informed about the First 5 app through our interest list before it launches this summer.

By signing up for the interest list, you will…

• Have a chance to be among the first few people to use First 5 and provide your feedback to our app development team
• See the features of the app in detail
• Get all the updates about the launch before anyone else!
• Be entered to win some of our fun, weekly giveaways

Sign up… yourself! Your daughter! Your friends!

* indicates required





Email Format

I’m so excited about First 5 and I think you will be too.

Because when we put God first by giving Him our first moments of the day, we will be radically changed. His truth will become the new filter through which we process life.

And spending time with Him will become one of our greatest joys instead of just another thing on the Christian checklist.

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18 Comments
  1. Janet Dunn

    Sign me up! Age 60

    Reply
  2. Kari Alexander

    I’m trying to sign up for the First 5 app and I don’t think it’s accepting it when I hit the subscribe button! Help!

    Reply
  3. Amy

    Hi! Would love to sign up, but the subscribe button isn’t working. Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Deborah

    Tried signing up for the First 5…the links to enter info are not allowing nevto fill in the required areas…

    Reply
    • Deborah

      *Me to

      Reply
  5. kathy keating

    im trying to sign up but dont think its going through

    Reply
  6. Sharon Butler

    My problem is apparently the same as others who have written above. The requests for first and last name and email seem to be out of sync with the reply boxes.
    Blessings!
    Sharon

    Reply
  7. Heather Bleier

    The label is above the entry field instead of below, that’s why everyone seems confused. I was able to fill it out just fine :), but my subscription didn’t go through bc I’m already subscribed. Can’t wait! I’ll be sure to review it on my blog when it goes live too!!

    – Heather

    Reply
  8. Donna Warner

    Hi Lysa,
    I have been thinking about you as my husband and I await invitation to travel to the Philippines and pick up our family- 2 girls (ages 13 and 11) and their brother age 9. They were with us last summer for 1 month. At the end of the month we asked them if they would like to be our family.. (we have no other children)
    As all the paperwork is done and we are so close to being united, we experience really sobering emotions. So many things have happened that make us certain that God has led us to this adventure.. yet we shake in our boots sometimes! As a mom of an adoptive parent, do you have specific advice for me? Does art have advice to give my husband, Jerry? I would love to speak with you if that were possible. Your sharing is always so very real and down to earth that I feel like you are a sister of the heart. I know things with the kids will be “messy” and they will be wonderful. I just desire to connect with you somehow if you are willing…..
    Donna

    Reply
  9. Patty

    Hi, signing up, but not sure if my email format is html or the text one so I just guessed, hope I guessed right. Looking forward to the First 5! Wishing it was already launched.

    Reply
  10. Barb

    Sign me up, sounds absolutely perfect. Age 42.

    Reply
  11. Kim

    Your description fits me perfectly! I have been struggling with these thoughts/feelings for 20 years. I know that reading the Bible is supposed to change that but it feels like a chore. I hate to admit it but I would almost read anything else but the Bible. I even stopped subscribing to my daily morning paper so there wouldn’t be anything else to read, but it didn’t work. I try but fall asleep reading or it just doesn’t “speak” to me. I know that the problem is with me not the Bible and I LONG to have the passion for it as I see in so many friends. Looking so forward to this app. I am praying that it will help me develop a real relationship instead of what I have now – just head-knowledge! Thank you for your openness in sharing so much of your own personal experience!

    Reply
  12. Angela

    Thank you for your Encouragement for Today devotion today. I had severe stroke (from an inopertable AVM) that left me extremely disabled. Last night I wanted too have a pity party and this morning I read your devotional. Thanks for helping to keep things in perspective.

    Reply
  13. michelle

    I am excited to try out this new app, I could use a boost in my first 5 minutes of the day. Thanks for this ahead of time.

    Reply
  14. julie brown

    I have been dealing with this with a close family member. I have had a hard time understanding why I feel the way I do and how I have reacted to situations. You clarified so much. Thank you

    Reply
  15. Rachel

    I am excited to try out this new app! I subscribed, so I look forward to hearing from you 🙂

    Reply
  16. Kim

    Thank you Lysa for providing us with this new app! I admit I’ve felt ’empty’ lately, something is missing in my life, sadly I’ve put God on the back burner for a while. I am wanting to get back into reading God’s word and applying it to my everyday life so that I can have a stronger personal relationship with him! I believe this app will be exactly what I might need along with lots of prayers! 🙂 Thank you! Kim

    Reply
  17. Gale

    Enjoyed Lysa’s presentations in April 17th, 2015 in NH, where she mentioned this upcoming app! I will explore getting it on my iPhone.

    Separately I am trying to learn the name of the organization Lysa wanted to support during that retreat, it involved protecting children from sex trade/molestation, and I am
    sorry I must have lost the insert for donations that was in the program that day.

    Thank you so much for the name of that organization, as I would like to share it with a friend doing ministry with God’s essential oils, focusing on forgiveness and healing, and she will be presenting in Uganda on a mission trip later this month.

    Thank you so much! Also you can call/txt me (860) 978-9275 if that is easier..

    Always trusting God’s love, guidance, protection, healing, comfort, provision, joy, peace, & hope!

    Gale
    P.S. Fortune’s Gale is a nautical term meaning a good strong wind that takes you quickly where you need to be and good things happen, as Gale is my 1st name, it was great to find a positive slant on the name normally associated with destruction and damaging winds… More importantly the scripture that speaks of Jesus ‘suddenly’ being on the shore (when he was out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee) revealed to me that the Holy Spirit is a Fortune’s Gale when we are ‘plugged in’ to our Trinity God!

    Reply
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