If there was one thing that has been my anchor over the years, it would be morning time routine. Through all the ups and downs of life, it has been my relationship with God that has helped me to weather the storms. The best way I have found to grow my relationship with God is through my morning time routine.
I really believe that if you learn to change your morning and create a morning time routine of praying, reading your Bible, and journaling, you can change your life. Matt and I are so passionate about it, we write books, journals, and devotionals for Manney Resources. We want to help others find the same hope and encouragement we get from spending time with God each day.
Getting Up Ahead of the Chaos
Mornings are hard. Complicated. Frustrating, Rushed. Frantic. I get it. That’s how our mornings used to be to, until we discovered that if we got up early enough to beat the chaos and spent some quiet time with God ahead of the craziness, it could and has changed our lives.
So every morning, long before the sun begins to rise for the day, you will find Matt and I at our dining room table with a candle lit, a cup of coffee (hot for him, iced for me), and our morning time baskets. Even on the darkest mornings, when I’m tired or discouraged, or feel like giving up, I know that if I can just get to the table and do my morning time routine, my spirit will change and so will my attitude.
30-to-THRIVE
Our morning time routine is so simple, yet it works every single day. Here’s what we do and now what we teach—we call it 30-to-THRIVE.
Spend ten minutes reading your Bible or a devotional.
Write in your journal for ten minutes. This includes writing down your prayer requests and anything you learned from your Bible reading or devotional for the day.
Read a book for ten minutes. I like to choose a Christian inspirational book that will further enhance my morning time experience.
That’s it. In just thirty minutes, you can find the hope and comfort you need and the strength to face your day. Will every day be something amazing, something that inspires you and lifts you up? Probably not. It’s like eating. Every meal you eat won’t be this amazing life-changing experience. In fact, you probably don’t remember what you had for dinner a week ago on Monday night. But that meal got you from where you were then until the next day and made it possible for you to get to today.
Start Today
That’s how your morning time routine is. It will help you to get through to the next day, and that’s what this blog is all about. Faithfully stepping one day at a time. I believe the best way you can do that is through a a morning time routine.
If you don’t have one, start one today. Start small. I have an easy course you can take for free with more details to help you get started, if you’re interested. Click the image below if you’re interested in that course.
Choose to just begin and meet with God every morning and watch how that changes the course of your day.
More Encouragement
If you’d like a free morning time guide, check out Manney Resources where you can get one for free to help you get started today.
If you have been around Faithfully Stepping for any amount of time, you probably know by now that Matt and I started Greater Philly Church ten years ago outside of Philadelphia, and that’s where we work and minister every week. What you may not know is that my husband and I started a business in 2020 called Manney Resources. After our paycheck got cut in half a few years ago, we started writing books and selling them on Amazon to try and offset the loss. Last year, we created a website to put all our resources together in one place—Manney Resources.
We create and sell books, journals, and devotionals to help people grow in their faith one morning at a time. Thank you so much to those of you who have bought our resources and helped to support our family!
We work hard during the year producing resources that we believe will help people change their lives. Well, we just released four resources this month; and I’m super excited to tell you about them!
I just released a book called, Finding Free: 5 Simple Steps to a More Peaceful, Content, and Happy You. Along with this book, we also released a study guide, a thirty-day devotional, and a thirty-day journal.
from left to right: Finding Free book, Finding Free Devotional, Finding Free Study Guide, and Finding Free Journal
I love all the products we release through Manney Resources, but this set right here might just be my favorite release yet!
So many women today are not living lives that are truly free. They are not living a life they love. More than that, they are miserable. Maybe they don’t know who they are or what they are supposed to do in life. They feel empty, like they are missing something. They feel like they are a mistake, or not good enough. They’re stuck working jobs they can’t stand, or are at home living a life that is empty and unfulfilling.
We want to experience more, crave finding what will truly make us happy and content. Yet, we are completely clueless on how to find it or even know what it is we are searching for.
In Finding Free, I share my story of spinning in circles trying to find what I was missing, what I was supposed to do with my life, and trying to figure out why i wasn’t more fulfilled. I knew God had more for her life, but I didn’t know how to find it.
Finding Free is a journey in discovering five steps to a more peaceful, content, and happy you.
Understand Your Personality and how God wants to use uniquely you.
Discover the Purpose God has for your life.
Create a Life You Love.
Allow God to Redirect You into the future He has for you.
Release the Shame that’s holding you back from living a life of freedom.
Discover the five simple steps to a more peaceful, happy, and content life by living free. In this 30-Day Devotional Study you will learn to understand your personality, discover your purpose, create a life you love, allow God to redirect you, and release your shame.
Find Your Way
Stories: So many people struggle to find freedom in Jesus. Stories help to bring truth to light in the revealing timeless truths in a practical, everyday way. Each devotional contains an engaging story.
Focus Your Thoughts
Scriptures: How do you learn to take the steps to Finding Free? Discover specific Scripture readings each day to direct your thoughts and fill your heart with encouragement and answers to help you take each step toward Finding Free.
Fuel Your Hope
Solutions: God’s word is the way forward. Without hope and direction from God, our way is lost. Each devotional concludes with a series of questions for reflection and discussion on the Scripture reading to stimulate your thoughts and forge a way forward.
The Finding Free Devotional is perfect for personal use, a book club, or small group study.
One of the greatest challenges we face at women is getting caught in the hustle, bustle, and hurry of the everyday life. We spend a lot of time and energy, but all we have to show for it is tired eyes and weary hearts. The Finding Free Journal is a guide to help you keep Christ the center focus each day and discover how to become a more peaceful, content, and happy you.
The Finding Free Journal is a guided 30-day experience. Each day features a section for journaling your prayer time and a section for journaling any insights or encouragement you gained from reading your Bible or a devotional. After that, you will have a journaling prompt, an affirmation, an excerpt from Amanda’s book Finding Free, a prayer, or a life hack to implement the principles from her book.
If you are not familiar with journaling, the Finding Free Journal is a great place to start. If you have been around church for a while and know the prayer and Bible reading routine but need something new and different to try, welcome to the next level of spiritual growth. Using the journal each morning will help take the guilt and guess-work out of growing your faith so you can gain spiritual momentum and growth your faith so you can change your life.
For too long, you have sought to do the right thing, but you found you were doing it the wrong way. Discover the key to Finding Free!
You are about to discover what it means to FIND FREE. In this six session study guide, you will uncover the five simple steps to a more peaceful, content, and happy you. The “you” God created before your life began. You will discover not just “who” you are but “whose” you are on this journey to a life Jesus described as the “abundant life” in John 10:10.
No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, if you have followed Jesus for most of your life, you just started to follow Jesus, or you are searching for what it means to have a relationship with Jesus, you will discover why you were created by God and how to unlock His purpose in your life.
Through discussion-based questions, reflections, group and personal exercises, you will learn the process to stop trying harder and lean into the life Jesus intended for you to live. This study is perfect for any setting for those looking to do a study without a video-based teaching. Whethey you are walking this path alone for personal growth or with a small group, you are just a page turn away from the start of a whole new way of living without the guilt and guess-work. Welcome to Finding Free!
Putting it All Together
Matt and I have a system we use every morning during our morning time routine called 30-to-THRIVE. Simply put, here’s how it works:
10 minutes reading a devotional or Bible⠀⠀⠀
10 minutes journaling ⠀⠀⠀
10 minutes reading a book ⠀⠀
You spend ten minutes reading your Bible or a devotional. Then you spend ten minutes journaling—this includes prayer time. Lastly, you spend ten minutes reading a book that inspires you to grow your faith or teaches you something new. Just thirty minutes a day can revolutionize your morning and change your life!
Be sure to check out all of these resources by clicking any of the links or by going to Manney Resources. I hope they are a help and encouragement to you! Let me know if you have any questions about any of the products!
This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure HERE.
30-to-THRIVE System
Our Passion
Matt and I have a passion to help people develop a morning time routine. Having a consistent morning time routine of Bible reading, prayer, and journaling has been the number one grounding factor in our lives that has kept us from giving up and sticking with what God has for us and in turn has helped us to thrive.
So many times over the years, we have gotten discouraged and wanted to quit our church plant. When people got upset with us, when we didn’t get paid for months on end, when we felt like God had forgotten us, when we had to sell our house…during all of those times, having a consistent morning time kept us from quitting and walking away.
Manney Resources
Because it’s made such an impact on our lives, we have a burden and desire to help others learn to develop a morning time routine of their own. So, we created Manney Resources where we sell books, journals, and Bible studies to help Christians grow their faith one day at a time. Because we believe if you change your morning, you can grow your faith, and change your life.
If you check out Manney Resources, you will see you can download a free Morning Time Routine Guide. I highly recommend doing that. The Morning Time Routine Guide is a 6-page personal guide to kick-start your mornings, transform how you study the Bible, help you get consistent with your prayer-time, turn Bible reading into a reflection that you will take through your day, and read more books to improve your career, build your relationships, and grow your faith in just 30 minutes a day.
The 30-to-THRIVE System
Matt and I have turned our morning time routine into an easy 30-minute system that we call thirty-to-thrive. There are three steps to the system. Each step takes ten minutes, resulting in thirty minutes.
10 minutes reading a devotional or Bible passage⠀⠀
The first step is to spend ten minutes reading a devotional, such as our He Still Calms Storms Devotional, or reading the Bible. You Version has tons of Bible reading plans to choose from and is a great resource.
10 minutes writing in a journal
Faithfully Stepping Journals
The second step is to journal. I recommend using my Faithfully Stepping Journal. I created these journals specifically for women using the system I’ve used for years. Whether you use my journal or another journal, the process is simple. There are two sections—a section for prayer and a section for journaling about what you’ve read.
Prayer
Gratitude. Write down at least three things you are grateful for.
Confession. Write down what you need to confess from yesterday.
Requests. Write down what you are praying for today.
Journaling
Write down anything that encouraged you from what you read. It may be a thought or an actual verse. Writing down what impacted you will help it stay with you for the rest of the day.
*Just a note: The Faithfully Stepping Journal has a third section. This section is for writing down thoughts, reminders, or tasks for the day that come to mind while you are writing in your journal.
10 minutes reading a book⠀⠀⠀
A huge part of growing as a Christian and staying encouraged comes from reading good Christian inspirational books. If you read just ten minutes a day, you could easily read ten books a year. You can find a list of some of my favorite books HERE, or you can check out the books I’m currently reading.
I believe God can use books in a powerful way in our lives. I believe that because I’ve seen it happen. When Matt and I get discouraged, we will often go to Barnes and Noble and buy a book or two. Books have played a huge role in who we are, what we believe about God and life around us, the work we do, and our overall spiritual health and encouragement.
It’s Time to THRIVE
Developing a morning time routine is the most important thing you can do to develop your faith and grow in your relationship with Jesus. Try it for just one week and see if if doesn’t make a huge difference in your life and you begin to thrive!
