The Next 30 Days: A Journal for Moving Forward by Faith, by Sharonda Lynn
My review: ★★★★
This is a personal prayer guide and journal for helping people who are trying to heal and recover emotionally and spiritually from a bad place. To me, the title suggests it must be used for the 30 days following some event…. But that’s not it at all. You could start it at any time, and follow it at a pace that works best for you – though committing to make it a daily habit is probably best.
Each day’s exercise is about 15-30 minutes, depending on how much you devote yourself to the task. There’s a theme for each day. On each day you have a passage of scripture to read (from your own Bible; it’s not printed in the book), a short reading that is usually inspirational, 3-5 affirmations to make to yourself, a prompt to reflect and write in the journal, and a 1-sentence prayer for you to make. This sounds like a lot, but it’s not really that much reading, and instead you’ll spend your time thinking and reflecting. Think of it as a daily meditation, aimed at helping you emotionally work through your troubles and make commitments to be a better person.
My favorite parts are the prompts for reflection and journaling. You probably won’t be doing a lot of writing – many of them can be completed with a bulleted list – but the thought that goes into each day’s exercise will be invaluable. The author is a pastor, and in a way it will feel like a personal consultation with a pastor each day over your troubles and desire to recover and grow. Personally it helps me to imagine I’m meeting one-on-one with someone as I read this book.
This book is especially good for anyone who’s feeling troubled. It’s even good for someone whose troubles aren’t that serious, but just wants to take some time to re-focus and work on making themselves better. Make a 30-day commitment to spend 30 minutes working on yourself, you’ll find it valuable.
