Happy Easter! 🐣 I was not planning to post something today but a brilliant idea came into my mind this afternoon. Although I am now making this post at night because Afternoon naps sounded so well in my brain haha. I guess this is the perfect time to talk about my faith as I do not really talk about my faith in my social media platforms as I like it to be secret and something that only me and the Lord knows. However, spreading his words might also help and encourage other people to start evaluating what they would like to do to strengthen their faith. 

There are numerous types in how you can keep up with your faith. I personally do devotions. I do not belong to a very religious family but we do have faith in the Lord. However, the first half of 2019 has really been tough for me to the point that I questioned God why do I have to go through all of the pain I was experiencing. There were times were I suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, staring at the ceiling and asking God questions like; "Why do I have to go through all of this?" "If he is meant to be in my life, why do we need to go through all of this?" "Until when will I feel devastated Lord?" these questions made me realize that due to the problem I was facing back then, i was doubting God's ability. I was shocked why I came to that state. At that time, (up until now, actually) I have a classmate who is very vocal in her faith towards the Lord. She often fills her Instagram stories, Facebook timeline and Twitter with bible scriptures, devotions, sunday servings, and many more that symbolizes her faith to the Lord. She was the on who inspired me to do devotions when I was able to realize that I am now questioning God's ability. 

It took me awhile to establish a devotion format but the contents are relatively the same. I take whatever notebook available and a pen. For my reference, I use an app called Holy Bible and I just copy today's verse and write how I relate to the scripture. Before, I used to write the daily verse, have an opening prayer, reflect on the daily verse and gratitude at some point I actually included inspiring quotes to cheer me up and to practice my lettering skills! 

Now, my process is way more simple than before. I write that daily verse and usually, I have a one paragraph full of thoughts about the verse, prayers, gratitude and asking forgiveness. This way, it allows me to let my words flow naturally without thinking about other sections to fill it up. I actually have a little notebook (A6 in size) that I always write whatever I like in it. It's like a journal dump where I want to write but doesn't have the strength to decorate. I later on decided to use it as my gratitude notebook. At the end of the day, I write the things that I am grateful for. Even the simplest ones like I am grateful for my neighbor's dogs (Choco, Loki and Kurt) for making me laugh whenever I walk around or I am grateful for my Mom's cooking to the complicated ones. Being mindful about the things that you have even the smallest ones can puts you in a better mood and teaches you to be contented with the things that you have. 

I also recommend to watch this video from Hannah Kathleen where she shows her morning routine that includes her process in doing her devotions every morning! I used her format to get me started on my devotion and it clearly helped me a lot!