While I DO NOT recommend being out of church for an extended period of time, if you find yourself not able to attend, here is a list of soul-nourishing activities that have been vital to my own spiritual growth during this dry season.
7 WAYS TO NOURISH YOUR SOUL WHEN YOU CAN’T GET TO CHURCH
Let’s start with the obvious, we have the advantage to be in God’s Word every single day through personal Bible study and reading. Here in the US, we are especially privileged to have easy access to countless Bibles, all withing the reach of our fingertips!
LISTEN TO SERMONS ONLINE
My church posts their weekly sermons online a few days after Sunday. I am so thankful for that! I may not have been able to physically sit in the pew and listen but thanks to modern day technology, I can download the most recent sermon and listen at home.
I know it’s becoming a popular trend that most churches are now able to record their sermons and upload them to their website to listen to at a later date. Most even have a whole archive of past sermons!
If you’re not sure if your church has this option, ask! If they don’t there are still many church sermon’s you can easily find online.
(For New Song’s Sermons, just click on “Media” then “Sermons”)
LISTEN TO PODCASTS
I am so thankful I have discovered podcasts in recent years. I subscribe to several ranging from business and entrepreneurship to Biblical motherhood and spiritual growth.
My favorite two women’s podcasts to listen to when I need a bit of encouragement and inspiration are Sally Clarkson’s podcast and Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth (she also has Seeking Him, which is a 1-minute podcast with a Scripture verse and short daily encouragement.)
LISTEN TO PRAISE AND WORSHIP MUSIC
Perhaps the easiest thing to do, but turning on some good old fashioned praise and worship music can instantly point our hearts to Him. While I love listening to our local Christian station, as well as KLOVE when we are out and about driving in the car, I tend to play my beloved, treasured CDs or listen to one of my selected Pandora stations while we are at home.
For my kids, we love listening to Seeds Family Worship CDs. They set Bible verses to music to help with memorization. The best part is that it is real music that appeals to the whole family, not just kids!
WRITE THE WORD
Perhaps one of my favorite things to do but writing the Word has dramatically transformed not only my faith but also my entire relationship and understanding of the Bible.I used to just write our verses in random, whatever struck a chord as I was reading but I have become much more intentional about it in recent months.
One of my goals this year is to write out two entire books from the Bible, which is why I created my brand new write the Word devotional, Scripture Graces.
For the next several months, I am committing myself to write out the entire Gospel of John in a few minutes each day. Slowly making my way through John, writing a few verses each day and letting them marinate in my heart and soul is such a powerful way to nourish my soul, especially in this dry season of being unable to attend church periodically.
Head HERE to learn more about Scripture Graces and powerful benefits of practicing the simple discipline of writing the Word each day.
READ THE CHILDREN’S BIBLE ALOUD
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, reading aloud from our children’s story Bibles is another simple yet profound way we can nourish both our souls and our children’s.
Currently, we rotate between The Jesus Storybook Bible and The Big Picture Story Bible, both of which are fantastic. We also have a large collection of Bible storybooks and devotionals written for children that we read aloud frequently.
Here’s the deal, they may be written for children but the adults reading them aloud to our kids are also greatly benefiting from them too!
Another great thing to do is read aloud from the actual Bible to your children. Sometimes I do this by turning on the audio option from my Bible app on the phone to listen to while we are eating breakfast. Or other times when I’m having my own quiet time in the living room with the kids around, I just start reading aloud as a way to focus myself, but my kids are also getting an added bonus too!
READ SOUL NOURISHING BOOKS
I can’t end my list without talking about the power that comes from reading high quality, theology rich non-fiction that can aid in personal spiritual growth.
Another goal I have this year is to read four books a month from several different categories, one of those being Spiritual Growth. Filling my mind, soul, and heart with inspiring, encouraging, challenging and convicting literature that helps me to grow and strengthen my faith is so important.
If reading isn’t your thing, there are so many great books that are recorded as audio books so you can listen to while you drive, exercise, do chores around the house or listen to at your leisure.
In an ideal world, we would always be able to attend church weekly but sometimes life’s circumstances make that hard. Thanks however to modern day technology and resources, we have many ways we can stay connected and nourish our soul if we do have to be absent from church for a set time.