Soul Care: What To Do When You Feel Stuck

Feeling stuck in our journey with Jesus is a common experience. Being stuck in the Christian life can feel frustrating, defeating, and even depressing. The causes of stuckness are many and varied. Seasons of life like a new baby, job, school, or a simple schedule change are common reasons for finding yourself stuck. Sometimes the reasons are more complicated, like sin issues or neglecting our souls. The good news about stuckness is that although the causes are many, there are also an amazing number of solutions to set you free! You can go from feeling frustrated to satisfied, happy, and content with some intention.

Below, we will look at a common area where we find ourselves stuck and then conclude with some help for feeling stuck in general. The solutions are approached through the 3 C’s: Connecting, (being) Creative, and Community.

Tools for Getting Unstuck

The three C’s approach to moving from stuck to freedom and satisfaction are:

Connect — Intentionally choosing to connect to your source of strength and wisdom: God/Jesus/Holy Spirit. The best place to start with anything in life is with the One who created you and knows you better than anyone! Instead of seeking answers on the internet, Seek answers from God. (Psalm 86:6-7)

“We go astray when we attempt to do spiritual work, without spiritual power.”

— A. W. Tozer

(be) Creative — God is the creator and made us to be creative. Intentionally think outside the box, breaking through self-imposed rules and expectations.

Community —Ideally, this is your church small group, a soul friend, or a spiritual director.

Now that we have defined our tools let’s look at one of the most common areas of stuckness and brainstorm using the 3 C’s together.

One Common Area of Stuckness: Bible Reading/Devotional Time

Maybe you haven’t picked up a Bible or had a devotional time in days, weeks, months, or years. Perhaps you started a plan (January 1st, anyone?) and haven’t progressed as you hoped. Maybe you don’t like reading but know that Bible reading/devotional time is vital to your soul health. Maybe what you have been doing feels dry or boring. No matter the reasons, solutions are here!

Connect — Always the best first step. Simply pray to God regarding your situation and ask Him for help. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but I do suggest being completely honest (He knows anyways). The next step is to take some time to listen. If you don’t sense any promptings, then it is time to pay attention. Pay attention for the answer to your prayer from friends, sermons, podcasts, and even social media. Answers can come from many sources but always align with God’s word and character.

(be) Creative — The ways to be creative are many and unique to you and your personality, resources, and individual prayer. Here are a few ways to be creative in the area of Bible reading/devotional time:

• Change up your sources. Purchase or borrow a new Bible version or style, devotional book or try an app. 

• Instead of, or in addition to reading, take advantage of, audio devotional books and Bibles. Another way to listen to the Bible or text is to ask an older child or spouse to read to you while driving. 

• Change up the time and/or place.  

• If you are on a reading plan and are behind, you can keep forging ahead and end not on time, keep reading trying to catch up, or even block out where you are behind and jump up to where you are supposed to be to eliminate the feeling of always being behind. You can catch up on the blocked-out section during hidden opportunities such as waiting at doctor appointments, airplane rides, or vacation time.

Community —

• Partner with a friend or spouse. 

• Create a Bible/devotional book club that meets regularly to keep you on track and provide accountability.  

• Enlist the help and encouragement from your small group, soul friend, or spiritual director. Ask for suggestions for ways to refresh and renew your current rhythms. Remember, being stuck is common, and there is plenty of advice out there that speaks from a place of personal experience.

Now you can see how the 3 C’s can help you to break through challenges with Bible reading/devotional time. These tools can also help with prayer, other spiritual disciplines, and almost any area of your journey.

Resources: 

Here are some ideas that I (Valerie) or Alisa have personally used that you may find helpful along your way.

Bibles

Alabaster Bibles — each book is one book of the Bible. They are beautifully presented with artistic imagery and photography. 

Abide Bible — I absolutely love this Bible, which was created to help the reader engage with Scripture through journaling, prayer, contemplation, engaging through art, and more.

ESV Journaling Bible — this Bible comes in many different forms, including individual books of the Bible.

Study Bibles — I have personally used the ESV Study Bible, but there are many styles and translations. A good Study Bible can be inspiring and fun.

Devotionals

Seeking God’s Face: Praying through the Year — with a foreword by Eugene H. Peterson, it is both a prayer book and a devotional book, which also follows the church calendar.

New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp — not light reading; the author is frank, direct, and gospel-centered.

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day: A 40-Day Journey with the Daily Office by Pete Scazzero — helps you to grow in your daily awareness of God’s presence and grow in your relationship with Him.

Apps

The Bible App — is free and amazing! You can access dozens of Bible versions, use audio for Bible reading, find devotional plans, and more.

Lectio 365 — morning and evening prayer and scripture plan

Every Moment Holy — brings prayers to our everyday liturgies and can be used as a daily devotion, thought, encouragement, or meditation

First 15 — daily devotional, which helps you spend your first 15 minutes with God. It also has an audio option which is great for taking in the bathroom when you are getting ready daily.

Tools

Bible Project — articles, podcasts, reading plans, and classroom experiences to help you understand the Bible in an approachable way.

Bible Recap — website, podcast, and books all to help you read through and 

learn from the Bible.

Encouraging each other on the Journey!

Valerie


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Transforming the Soul Through Meditation

I’d like to share with you what I believe to be one of the easiest and most accessible avenues to transformation by God’s word: Scriptural meditation. Meditation is a simple yet impactful practice. The C.S. Lewis Institute defines Biblical meditation as 

“the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God…”

Simply put, to meditate on Scripture is to reflect on or ponder a small portion of God’s Word for an extended amount of time.

Christian meditation is unlike eastern meditation which aims for the emptying of the mind and instead aims for us to fill our mind with God, his truth and his promises.

For instance, recently I have been reading slowly through the book of Philippians.  A few days ago I started reading chapter two which in the New Living Translation  starts with this question:

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? 

I continued to read the chapter but before I closed my Bible, I went back to verse one above.

I thought about that question- a lot. Although I have read that verse many times over the years, I have never stopped and asked myself to answer that question. As I closed my Bible, I continued to ask myself that question. I thought about what it means to belong to Christ. I thought about encouragement. I continued to ask myself throughout the day, all the ways I could think of that I have personally received encouragement from belonging to Christ.  

As you might imagine, by simply meditating on the passage and the answers, my mind was filled with encouragement throughout the day! God’s promises and encouragement filled my heart, mind and soul. And because my thoughts were occupied with good things, I had no room for stressful, unhelpful, or otherwise negative, unwanted and unneeded thoughts. No wonder Psalm 1 says that the person who meditates and delights in God’s word is blessed!

As you can see, this kind of meditation is not complicated but it is beneficial in many ways. 

Here are just a few ways you may benefit from being intentional about meditating on Scripture:

1. Your mind is filled with the thoughts of God and his promises 

2. Your mind is set on things above (Col. 3:2) and renewed (Romans 12:2)

3. Your heart is turned to prayer and praise

4. You are more likely to memorize the Scripture that you meditate on

5. You entering into the promises of God (Psalm 1)

If you haven’t engaged in Scripture in this way, I hope you will give it a try.  

Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

1. If you are already in a reading or devotional plan, pick a verse or portion from your reading to intentionally stop and think about. Take that verse with you throughout your day. Recall it or keep it in the front of your mind as much as you can. Ponder and reflect on the words, thoughts and ideas.

2. If you are not already following a reading or devotional plan, simply pick out a verse or portion of the Bible that catches your attention. If you want, you can even search the internet by looking up “popular Bible verses” or something similar.

3. Stick with your verses for one day, a week or longer.  As long as it is impacting you, stay with it.

4. Use sticky notes to help you remember your verse.

5. Engage with others. Do you have a soul friend or discipleship group that you could share with? If you do, this will help deepen your engagement and bless others as well!

Let us be intentional in taking small steps that open our souls to the transforming power of God’s word as it enters deeply into our hearts and minds. 

Enjoy the journey!