Road Map in the Word

Erika Dix finds a new pattern in her prayer that leads her straight to God.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:22-23, RSV-CE)

I broke my pattern. I have been writing my articles from my prayer time with Lectio Divina, in which I follow the traditional pattern of scriptural reading, meditation, and prayer, and it has been wonderful to have that guidance. However, lately it has been tough to follow. There has been a lot of chaos: around the world, around my family, around my life. My typical pattern when this happens, is to abandon the patterns that help, and just start reacting to whatever is coming at me. The image that comes to mind is bumper cars. You need to abandon your normal pattern of driving a car to avoid being hit, or to actively go out and seek other cars to hit. It's a fun ride, but not something we normally do on a daily basis! 

When I read this Scripture passage the first time, it truly caught my attention. Then I read it a second time, and even a third time. I was not at the time doing a Lectio Divina, but instead was doing a book Bible study. The author had us write down the Scripture verse, and while I was writing it, I noticed that I was breaking it down into parts. When I looked back at the parts, I saw a pattern, a beautiful one, given to us from a loving Father. 

Here is what it looked like: 

• ”Let us draw near” (come to prayer) 

• ”with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (practice virtues) 
  
  
• ”with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (confession) 

• ”Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (absolution)

After a moment of silence of letting this sink in, I noticed a pattern, or even a road map, of what to do in times of chaos. 

Here is the road map:

1. Come to Prayer.
2. Practice Virtues.
3. Go to Confession.
4. Believe in Absolution. 

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Breaking free and going off road, as long as we are following the map of God and His Word, will lead us to beautiful places. #catholicmom

Breaking free and going off road, as long as we are following the map of God and His Word, will lead us to beautiful places. I realized that even though I was not doing a Lectio Divina, I was still doing a Lectio Divina. I repeated the verse, pulled out phrases that spoke to me, allowed the Holy Spirit to guide me, and then had a direction to follow. On our bumpy roads, when we look back, sometimes we can even see that we had been following His pattern all along.

Copyright 2022 Erika Dix
Images: Canva