It’s less about fighting the darkness than it is ushering in the light. And the light is stronger than the darkness, right?

Right.

But GET THIS. I started doing my devotionals in a place with more physical light and it actually changed my health and opened the door for God to teach me something new!

Hows and whys…

So I started this because a long time ago (like one year) Melissa Pauquette told me that it really matters to get outside first thing in the mornings.

Sunlight.

It’s good for you.

I also learned that we’re supposed to get protein in the mornings, especially as girls, because without enough protein, our bodies start breaking themselves down in order to boost our insulin levels.

Which explained why I kept waking up feeling sick.

(Yikes!)

Because I have the grand privilege of living around godly women who’ve put in the work to research and understand what’s healthy for female bodies, I try to share that knowledge whenever I can.

If you want to learn more, send me a message and I’d love to share what I know. But back to the point of this blog!

Not a morning person…

I started eating protein in the mornings. When that helped, I thought about doing the other thing — getting outside first thing.

It just felt so intimidating.

What am I supposed to do? Go for a walk? Yeah right.

(I am not a morning person.)

But at some point, I felt God nudging me to go outside while I read my Bible.

So I tried it. 

And you WILL NOT BELIEVE what happened this morning.

The crazy thing that happened this morning…

This morning I got up, and instead of going back to sleep for thirty minutes, I felt God nudging me to do devotionals outside.

I bundled up in a bunch of blankets and grabbed my Bible + journal.

(I also grabbed a rain jacket because it was wet.)

Before I could walk out the door, my roommate called me. A spider had cobwebbed itself into a corner in her bedroom and she wanted the vacuum to suck it up.

(I’m being real ya’ll.)

So I carried the vacuum upstairs and then I went outside.

Cross-legged on top of my rain jacket with the sunrays streaming through the early morning mist and rain, I felt God whispering to me before I even opened a page of the Bible.

“Shake off the night, my love. Shake off the night.”

The dream that I’d just woken up from popped into my head right away.

It was a nightmare.

A pretty disturbing one at that.

So I shook off the nightmare. I gave it to Jesus. 

Then I dove into my Bible reading for the day. (I read from Ezekiel.)

Doing devotionals outside boosted my whole day. With the sunlight on my face as a visual reminder to focus on the LIGHT and a source of Vitamin D, this simple change (moving where I do devotionals) impacted so much!

While I ate breakfast, I called my fiancé.

I mentioned that I’d had a bad dream, but when he asked about it, I couldn’t even remember what it was!!

That’s so amazing to me. When I focus on the light, I (literally) forget about the darkness.

A bad dream is a smaller form of darkness than cancer.

But does that really matter?

Jesus is the LIGHT of the world, and when he holds your focus, everything else melts away.

Try it for yourself!

Try doing your devotionals outside in the sunlight.

• Even if you struggle to read the Bible with consistency, try it for one day. 

(Lately I’ve been in a rush in the mornings and skipped devotions a lot…but I just picked back up yesterday. I gave myself grace and just started again, because personally I can’t keep my head on straight without daily Bible reading.)

• Even if you live somewhere cold, try opening the blinds.

I actually started by opening the blinds and studying the Bible where I normally sat (on the other side of the room). 

Eventually I moved closer to the window and then all the way outside.

And yeah, that’s a long over-complicated process for just going outside, but somehow it worked for me.

• Even if you’re not a morning person, try it this week.

No matter what your circumstances, try adding a little sunshine to your devotional routine. I can’t wait to watch you reap the benefits. <3

What do you think? Are you a morning person or a night owl when it comes to devotionals? Have you ever tried doing them outside? Let me know what you think in the comments.

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I’d love to see you reap the benefits of ushering in the LIGHT to your life–mind, soul, and body. Join my mailing list for more help along the journey.