Lent 2018
Name: Yoobin Chu
Lenten Commitment: Keep a journal, including a daily prayer section
This year, I approached Lent knowing that I would have to write a reflection because I am a part of the YG praise team and leadership team. I did not see Lent as a season for me to grow closer to God, but as more work that I had to do as a member of these ministries. So, I delayed thinking about what I was going to do until Ben Teacher texted me saying that he wanted to know what I was committing to.
After evaluating my life during the past year, I saw that I have not been aware of how God was working in my day to day life because I am so dependent on my friends and family. I rarely sought God’s guidance. So after brainstorming with Ben TE, I decided to keep a journal every day and include a prayer section, so that I could see how God works in my everyday life, and learn to become more dependent on Him.
In the morning, I fill up half of a page in my journal, planning out what I want to accomplish and how I will do my best to keep God on my mind. Then when I come home from school or before I go to bed, I fill the rest of that page with significant events that happen during the day and try to interpret how God may have been speaking to me through them.
This has helped me realize how much God works in my life, despite the fact that I tend to push Him to the back of my mind. During the school day, I always find it difficult to focus on God and focus on my work at the same time, so reflecting on the day’s events has shown me that God works in my life in so many different ways.
On a second page, I keep a prayer section. I divide the page up into three sections: one for adoring and thanking God, one for repentance and confession, and one for my requests. This is a format that Ben TE suggested I follow and using it has aided me in developing a healthier and more consistent prayer life.
Before Lent, I had never really taken the time, other than before QT and meals, to pray about all of these categories: Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. But following this format consistently has shown me that I have so much to pray about and that I need to depend on God more in everything, instead of turning to my friends or to my phone and constantly pushing my problems under the rug.
For the past two weeks, I have consistently written in my journal. Lifting up my burdens to God by writing them down has been far more rewarding than keeping my emotions bottled in or talking to my friends about it because the support that God gives us is far greater than anything this world can offer.
Because of His unconditional, everlasting love for us, knowing that God will never abandon me and will always accept me with open arms is the best and most reassuring feeling in the world. Throughout this season of Lent, I hope and pray that I will be able to keep God as my highest priority and develop a habit of learning to depend on Him more.
Editor’s note: Yoobin also wrote a Lent Reflection in 2017. To read that post, click here.
This post is a part of DSYG’s Lent Reflections series meant to educate and inspire readers on the season of Lent and its value in any Christian’s relationship with Christ. For more information on this series, click here.
To read more posts in this year’s series, click here.
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