How to Grow in Your Faith (What Actually Works)

It’s been a little over 10 years since I surrendered my life more fully to the Lord in July 2016. Today I want to share some things I’ve learned in hopes that it will help you on your own journey with God.

Looking back, there are four things in particular that God used to grow me: learning to spend time alone with Him, finding my identity in Christ, keeping an eternal perspective and choosing surrender. Each one built on the one before it.

Where My Journey Started

I grew up in a Christian household with parents who raised me in the things of God. I attended our local church from an early age and I accepted Jesus into my heart at six years old. In the years that followed, I believed in Jesus and enjoyed hearing Bible stories, but I never knew that an ongoing personal relationship with God was possible. So, throughout my childhood, I pursued my own interests and followed the trends of the world.

Everything changed when the Holy Spirit convicted me to begin reading the Bible for myself and start to get serious about my personal relationship with God. I had a realization that I’d been putting Him on the back burner. I understood that God didn’t just want to be a part of my life, but He wanted my life.

Spend Time Alone With God

In the months that followed, I began slowly learning to make a habit of reading the Word and spending ten minutes with God each morning. I intentionally set my alarm earlier so I could practice putting God first in my day.

Was I perfect? No.

But I knew that because I’d never before practiced spending time alone with God that I needed to discipline myself and persevere through the distractions and wandering thoughts.

There were plenty of mornings I sat there in the silence and didn’t feel anything at all. What helped me was realizing that God was not keeping score of my consistency. He was after my heart. So instead of giving up when I missed a day, I would simply start again the next morning.

Eventually, I learned to pray honest and raw prayers during that time, inviting God into my day and asking Him to lead me.

At first, I had to learn to get comfortable with silence and shut out the distractions of technology during that time. I think this is one of the keys for us in this generation, since we are constantly surrounded by noise.

In my journey, I spent my morning quiet time mostly in silence or in worship, and then I would read the Word throughout the day or when I got home. I hardly followed reading plans. Instead, I went to specific verses or books of the Bible as I felt led.

For me, following so many devotional reading plans seemed overwhelming and more like a religious routine to check off a list, so I rarely stuck to a strict Bible plan.

That doesn’t mean reading plans are wrong. They simply weren’t what helped me build my relationship with God. I had to learn how to seek Him personally rather than just complete a spiritual routine. I’ve written more about that difference in Christianity Is More Than a Checklist: Knowing Jesus Personally.

Establish Your Identity in Christ

The second major lifestyle change God led me to in my journey with Him was learning to find my identity in Christ. Since my childhood, I subconsciously felt defined by the daily barriers I had to face because of my severe visual impairment caused by my premature birth, so naturally I had a lot of insecurity and desired to fit in with my peers. This also led me to somewhat of a striving and performance mentality, because I was always navigating a world of sighted people where I needed to adapt to my vision loss in school, sports, social activities and so forth. I struggled with a lot of comparison and self-consciousness.

What absolutely transformed my life and perspective was when I started to learn that my identity was found in Christ, not in my visual impairment. This helped me understand that because I am a daughter of the King, I therefore have a purpose and a responsibility in the Kingdom of God.

I began to look outside myself and understand that I was put here on this earth in this generation for a purpose, and that God had a plan for my life that He wrote in His book before I was born (see Psalm 139:16). I understood that I needed to use my gifts to help others, and that my life was part of a much larger story in God’s eternal plan.

The same is true for you. God wrote your days in His book before you were born too, which means your life is not an accident and you are not here by chance. He gave you your gifts on purpose, and He has a purpose and a responsibility for you in His Kingdom just like He does for me. Your life is part of that same larger story.

I practiced rooting myself in my identity in Christ through writing Scriptures in Braille and speaking them over myself in the mirror. I’ll admit that at first I felt very awkward doing this, but eventually I memorized them and I made it a habit to quote them over myself while getting ready in the morning. One of the first ones I wrote out was 2 Timothy 1:7, that God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I spoke it over myself on the mornings when I did not feel any of those things. This was part of me strengthening myself in the Lord so that later in the day I could take opportunities to encourage others. If you want somewhere to start, here are 10 verses to speak over yourself.

Learning to anchor my identity in Christ set the foundation for my focus on my calling and led me to what I’m doing now here on this website through blogs, poetry, speaking engagements, music and much more. As I learned to put God first in my life through developing a personal relationship with Him, He began to speak to me and lead me into the foundations that carried me through much harder times.

Keep an Eternal Perspective

As I stepped out in my calling through using my gifts and time for God’s Kingdom, the Lord simultaneously led me to resources about living in light of eternity, helping me see that God’s plan for my life was not about me or my ambitions, but that it fit into a much larger picture with others in the Body of Christ.

The one that marked me most was Driven by Eternity by John Bevere, along with the sermons he preached on it. This message in particular changed the way I thought about my life and what I was doing with the time God gave me.

I think this is so important for every believer to understand: the world does not revolve around us and there is more to the world than our community. Our perspective must be eternal if we are going to stay faithful in our calling and endure the trials we have to overcome along the way.

I’m so thankful God led me early in my walk with Him to learn biblical truths such as in 2 Corinthians 5:10 where Paul tells us we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account to the Lord for what we did with our lives.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

— 2 Corinthians 5:10 KJV

We need to have a healthy reverence for God and a soberness to understand that we are accountable to the Lord for what He has entrusted to us. This knowledge keeps us from wandering off the path of life and helps us stay focused in our fight of faith.

Practically, this changed the way I made decisions. I began asking myself whether something would still matter in eternity before I gave it my time and attention.

Surrender Is the Key

If you’ve ever wondered how to know what God’s will is for your life and how to walk in it, I’d start with surrender.

It was when I started to truly put God first in my life that everything fell into alignment and His plan for my life began to unfold.

Jesus stands at the door of our heart and patiently waits for us to let Him in (see Revelation 3:20). He will never force our surrender.

If you want God’s leading in your life, follow the simple but powerful advice of Proverbs 3:6 which tells us to acknowledge God in all our ways and He will direct our paths.

In all our ways means all of them. Where we go, our relationships, our career and every area of life, big and small.

Surrender doesn’t mean knowing exactly what God is going to do next. For me it has meant trusting Him enough to take the next step even when I can’t see the whole picture. If you’re in a season where God seems quiet, I wrote about that in Why God Feels Silent (And What He’s Actually Doing).

Looking back over these ten years, I can see how the things God taught me early on became the foundation for seasons I never could have anticipated. I’m still learning and I still don’t have it all figured out. But I’ve come to treasure the process of knowing God and letting Him shape the way I see myself, my purpose and the people around me.

I think that is one of the most beautiful parts of walking with God. There is always more of Him to know.

If you’re at the beginning of this, you don’t need a perfect plan. Start with ten minutes tomorrow morning and tell God honestly where you are.