Using Reflection for Spiritual Growth
Do you ever find yourself feeling stuck? Wondering if you’ve made any progress in your Christian growth? Doubting if God has even been at work in your life?
Or maybe you’ve been in a season of so much growth and change that you can’t even keep track of it all. It’s been a whirlwind of transitions and stepping out in faith. Of seeing God move mountains.
Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle, like me.
I promise you, that whatever this past year has looked like, God has been in it. His Spirit has been about the business of sanctification, moving you toward Christ-likeness. And one of the hands-down, most effective things I’ve ever done to cooperate with Him in that process is reflection. Like staring at your face in a well-lit mirror, reflection reveals the stuff we often cover over and fly past.
Reflecting on our lives with the Holy Spirit’s illumination is a bit like yesterday, when I saw my sunlit face in the rearview mirror. Gasp! When was the last time I plucked my eyebrows? (Aaaand I still haven’t. Hang on … I’ll be right back!)
Okay, that’s better.
Where was I? Oh yes, reflection! It’s key to your growth. And the turning of the calendar year is a prime time to take stock of God’s work within you as you review the last year and prepare your heart for the one to come.
How to do a Year In Review
I hope you’re able to steal away for at least two hours, maybe more, to get with Jesus and look back over the past year with Him. Creating this space is the hardest part of the whole thing for most of us. What can you shuffle? Who can you swap kid-watching with? What entertainment could you give up to have a free evening? Make a plan, and write it on the calendar, just like you would a coffee date with your best friend.
Here are some simple steps to guide you as you review the past year and prepare for the new:
1. Become physically aware
We’re holistic beings. If you go into this time sleepy and stiff in body, your brain will feel sluggish, too. I’m going to start with a walk in my favorite garden. You might want to do a few exercises and stretches, or even turn on some music and dance. Wake your body up and pay attention to how it is feeling. What areas are carrying tension? How has your overall health been this past year? What activities and foods have helped you feel more well and energetic?
Don’t get bogged down in creating New Year’s health resolutions. Just take stock of how you’re feeling right now and what has been most helpful to your physical well-being over the past year.
2. Become spiritually aware
Get your mind and heart focused on the Lord through spending time in worship and in the Word.
I love this song by Audrey Assad as it calls me to remember the incredible works of my Creator and Savior. May it remind you that He indeed does have new mercy, fresh grace, and unshakable faithfulness toward you every day.
Psalm 139 is one of my favorite chapters as it reminds us of the Lord’s constant presence and care in our lives. This is a beautiful prayer from the end of it that you can borrow as you begin this time:
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Ps. 139:23-24
Begin a conversation with the Lord, asking Him to wake you up spiritually in the places you have been sleeping. Ask Him to rekindle your first love for Him. Invite Him to guide this next step of active reflection on the past year.
3. Become mentally and emotionally aware
Come into this time prepared with a tool to help you remember events and feelings from the past year, such as your journal, photos, bank statements, or calendar. As you look back, take note of the significant highs and lows, transitions, and any recurring themes. God is gentle, and often He’ll repeat a message to us through multiple voices until we get it. Was He inviting you to deeper trust? Pointing to a particular passage of scripture? Nudging you toward a step of faith? Asking you to let go of something?
Pay special attention to the events, books, people, and places that caused you to press in deeper to God’s love. Where were you and what was happening around you when you were seeking Him most fervently? Likewise, when were you the most distant and apathetic toward God?
Also, during this time of reflection, search for any unresolved hurt or unrepentant sin in your life. Is there anyone you need to talk to honestly and forgive? Anything you need to confess to both the Lord and a trusted friend?
And how about thanks? Take some time to list the many things you’ve had to be thankful for over the past year. Is there anyone that you feel drawn to write a special note of appreciation to?
4. Create your Ebenezer
By this step, you should have lots of insight into the Lord’s work in your life over the past year. Don’t let it all stay in your head or on those sloppy notes you jotted in the heat of the moment. Create something meaningful and intentional to carry with you and help you remember when you forget. Because you will. We all do. That’s why Samuel, Jacob, and Joshua all used stones to mark a significant time the Lord showed up.
You can get as creative as you want with this. Write a careful list, craft a poem, paint or sketch a picture, or even make a collage of words cut from magazines that capture the heart of what God has shown you. Create a design and have it printed on a shirt, a mug, a notebook, or a magnet. Online print services like Shutterfly can print on just about anything!
I’d love to see what you make! Please email me a photo.
5. Look ahead
God has plans for you, right? And He is inviting you to partner with Him in spreading His kingdom, yes? So ask Him what His hopes and dreams are for you for the next year.
I’m learning not to be afraid of asking God these kinds of questions. Sure, my own hopes and desires might ring loudest in my ears. I might have a hard time differentiating between God’s plans and mine, but you know what? He knows that above all else, I want what He wants for me. And I’m banking on Isaiah 30:21…
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Isa. 30:21
If I am listening, He will direct me. He will guide me in the future, just as He has in the past. And I pray that as you spend time reviewing the year with the Lord, you discover His faithfulness and His specific love and plans for you in a fresh way that causes you to step into this coming season with full confidence in the Waymaker.
Other Resources
Jennie Allen offers a free Life Inventory that gives you prompts to reflect on your health, spiritual growth, relationships, and work. I especially like the conversation cards at the end that you can use with someone close to you as you look back over the old year and forward into the new year.
These Praying in Color templates are a fun way to write words of significance and then color around them as you pray and review the past year.
What did God show you when you looked back at your year with His guidance? How were you surprised at where He’s been silently at work?
6 Comments
What a great post! It led me to think about 2019 and my journey with the Lord. It was a strange year with a juxtaposition of both joy and sorrow: the birth of my first grandchild but not being able to be with her (except for 6 weeks in the summer), the opportunity to visit my parents whom I hadn’t seen for 5 years, yet the fear of seeing my dad dwindle from cancer and not having a relationship with Jesus (although he thinks that by talking about God and praying that he’s ok), and the joy of seeing my oldest son after a year but knowing that he has to leave again.
I know that God has a plan and a purpose, and I know that He has been with me throughout all of this (heaven knows I wouldn’t have survived any of it without Him!!). But I also see how I’ve withdrawn from Him in the times when I’ve needed to draw closer. I am going to write out Isaiah 30:21 and put it where I can see it as a daily reminder.
Thank you for sharing!
Wow, that’s definitely such a mix of ups and downs last year for you. I love that God has given you insight into your own heart to see the need to draw closer in those hard times. Just to recognize it is a gift. I’m glad you’re claiming the reminder of Isaiah 30:21! Blessings as you listen for His voice this year, Caroline.
This was such a great idea. I took the calendar off the wall and went through day by day and was reminded of the many times when God did, indeed, show up on my daily walk. If I were to title 2019 in review it would be FREEDOM. Freedom from old baggage that I’ve been carrying around for some time now. For my Ebenezer, I wrote a song about how our Freedom can be found in the pages of The Word of God.
I love how God showed you the freedom He has deepened over the past year! What do you think is in store for 2020???
Can’t really relate to the eyebrow plucking. Sounds horrible.
When it comes to remembering and reflecting, I can usually rely on cellphone photos, sermon notes, my Bible-reading plan, and our financial paper trail. It seems that most experiences involve a price tag of some sort. Looking back on finances triggers memories that kind of fill in the blanks, creating “AHA!” moments of what God has been doing since then. If something significant comes to mind, I can look back to what books of the Bible I was going through at that time for a fuller picture.
That’s so true – our financial trail tells us a lot, doesn’t it?