Category: Pam Farrel

Treasure: To Hold or Keep as Precious; Cherish

Who is a God like you . . .?
(Micah 7:18a NIV)

Children are precious. We treasure their tender hearts and we learn from their curious minds. Their laughter is contagious. Their quiet moments are rare, but when they are still, we usually find them nestled in their parent’s arms or curled up under the covers sleeping sweet dreams.

Jesus celebrates and welcomes the little ones. He encourages a childlike faith. In your quiet moments do you ever act childish? I don’t mean those spiritual tantrums, I am thinking about approaching God with wonder. When is the last time you got out a box of crayons and colored a Bible story? Or gathered some scissors, old magazines and a glue stick to make a collage?

Coloring and pasting appeal to my curious nature. I like to see what comes together with the images and colors. And often, I discover a topic that God wants to dialogue with me about. Like in the above collage, I sensed God asking me and possibly you: 

What do you treasure? 

And the reason I know this is a question God may be asking is that the Bible also speaks of this topic. (See Luke 12:34)

In 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time, Pam Farrel suggests, we approach our time with God like a child, literally. She suggests reading a children’s Bible, or reciting a child’s prayer or coloring a Sunday School paper or even having a quiet time with a child.

Here is what happened when she took her own advice:

 . . .one Sunday morning, I asked our eight-year-old son what he learned from Daddy’s sermon. Waiting for the typical, “Jesus loves me” answer, I was pleasantly surprised when he said, “You shouldn’t make up excuses not to obey God.” Wow! 

©Pam Farrel from 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time (IVP). For more devotional books by Pam www.Love-wise.com


What youthful activity will you incorporate 
into your quiet moments today?


Posted on by kelrohlf 3

31 Days of Quiet


But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 
for it is light that makes everything visible. 
This is why it is said:

“Wake up , O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” 
(Ephesians 5:13-14 NIV)

Think of the 31 Days of Quiet series as your personal pantry to spice up your devotions. Click here to see what’s been stocked so far.

Do you ever get bored or stuck in your relationship with God? Even if you did, would you admit it? Sometimes, I get stuck in a spiritual rut. Nothing seems to quicken my spirit. I feel dried out and thirsty. To help me overcome my spiritual apathy, I am dusting off a favorite book of mine from Pam Farrel. In her little book, 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time, she offers thirty suggestions to add variety to your times with God.


Each day this month, I will share some tidbits from her book, practice it in my own quiet time and then report in on how it went. I would love for you to join me here. If you do, feel free to drop by the comment box and let me know how it’s going.

Now, let’s listen in on what Pam has to say about variety and our quiet times…

As we creatively spend time with God, God becomes more real.

. . . the task at hand [is] to make the words of the Bible so real that Jesus isn’t some flannelboard God, but the intimate Savior, the indwelling Holy Spirit and the caring always-present Father.

I want to experience God with the range of emotions that he created me with. I want to see him work in a variety of settings to conform me to his image, so I want to give him lots of opportunities and lots of tools.

This book is dedicated to fellow travelers who long to respond to God, to be attentive to his voice.

These ideas are designed to counteract dryness or boredom, to provide relational connectedness if your quiet times have become academic or intellectual exercises or just to allow you to have a little fun and enjoy the presence of the One who created you. The ideas here are meant to spark your own ideas. Picture them as spiritual caffeine for your soul. Pour a big cup and drink your fill.

©Pam Farrel from 30 Ways to Wake Up Your Quiet Time (IVP). For more devotional books by Pam http://www.Love-wise.com

Linking up with the 31 Dayers at The Nester.

i'm doing it!
Posted on by kelrohlf 5