In the beginning...

I am not a morning person, going back to sleep after my alarm is one of the best feelings in the world! Sleeping in until 10 or 11 am was "justifiable" when I was in the hospitality industry working late hours, but then I became a teacher so my day starts pretty early now. I have come to enjoy the morning and appreciate many things about it - the smell (and taste) of hot coffee, the quiet streets, the morning dew that puts moisture in the air here, the sound of the waves crashing without the city noise, the way the morning sun hits the rocks in the ocean, and my quiet mind that has not started the 100 mile per minute race. On another note: I am a fairly young Christian in terms of truly knowing what it means to be a Christ follower and having a real relationship with Jesus. (I will share my testimony in a later post.) I find so much comfort in God's Word and find that the more I read it and study it, the more I crave that time.

I tried night time devotions, but I found my mind all over the place and also found that my eyes did not want to stay opened. (I am in this awesome phase of not being a morning person or a night owl, haha!) I tried morning devotions and I actually really liked them to my surprise. I would wake up most days and get in about 20 or 30 minutes of devotion time before work. I loved those days. I felt so much more at peace and was nicer to my students :). As time went on, I began to slack in my morning routine, which hadn't really turned into a routine yet (one major problem), and reverted back to sleeping in until 10 minutes before I had to leave, doing the bare minimum to be presentable, and running out of the house (most likely forgetting something - usually my phone). I would sometimes listen to my Beth Moore CD and treat that as my devotional if I wasn't in my morning daze. This leads me to the creation of this blog.

First of all, I feel that the Holy Spirit has been nudging me to be interested in starting a blog called "30 Days of Sunrise". This kept coming to me when I would walk to the park in the morning for my devotional time. I am totally that person that dives in head first without thinking about the fact that I can barely swim, especially when it comes to service in the church. I always want to jump in and help out and volunteer for everything! Since I became a teacher, I have learned that I need to think before I volunteer myself for anything and everything. This nudging continued throughout a couple of weeks. Well, the icing on the cake happened tonight. I was reading a blog that I get emails from (Stone Soup for Five) and it was about spending the day with God. The main take away was to refrain from being sluggish in the morning! I have been enjoying my time in prayer and devotion at the park most mornings, but it has not been consistent. I plan to challenge myself to 30 days of waking up at 5:30 am on school days (sunrise times will determine my weekend times) to make time for my devotions and prayers. I will document my journey on these pages. I hope you enjoy and even consider joining me in this challenge.

What do you think? Are you up for the challenge? Any words of encouragement? Any prayer requests?