Devotional 41: When You’ve Lost the Rhythm
What happens when you still love God—but the spiritual rhythms you once had have slipped away?
Maybe life got busy. Maybe grief, illness, caregiving, disappointment, or simply distraction changed your capacity. Maybe opening your Bible now feels less like returning to God and more like confronting an overdue assignment.
This devotional is an invitation to come back without shame, without catching up, and without trying to recreate a version of yourself from another season.
Because you don’t have to catch up.
You’re returning to Someone.
Featured Quote
“A streak is fragile. A relationship can survive interruption.”
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About This Devotional
In 2009, one of the closest seasons of my relationship with God grew around a bright red composition notebook.
Every day, I would sit down with my Bible and that notebook. I’d read several chapters, write down what stood out, and write out my prayers.
Seventeen years later, that little notebook has become The Red Notebook Journey.
There’s just one slightly ironic problem.
When the proof copy arrives… I’m going to do it too. 😂
Because I need it.
After surgeries, recovery, grief, loss, health challenges, distraction, and a life that looks very different from 2009, I realized I’m not currently living in the same spiritual rhythm I was then.
I miss it.
But returning to God doesn’t mean I have to recreate 2009 Kim.
It means asking a different question:
What does relationship with God look like in the life I actually have right now?
In this devotional, we’re talking about the difference between maintaining a spiritual streak and remaining in relationship with Jesus—what happens when life changes our capacity, why missing a day doesn’t erase all the days that came before it, and how to simply do the next faithful thing.
Not catch up.
Not start over.
Come back.
Scripture Focus
John 6:68
When many of Jesus’ followers walked away after a difficult teaching, Jesus asked the Twelve if they wanted to leave too.
Peter answered:
“Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Peter didn’t tell Jesus he understood everything.
He didn’t have an explanation. He had a Person.
His answer wasn’t about the plan he would follow, the practice he would complete, or how consistently he could get everything right.
It was about relationship.
To whom will we go?
When we don’t understand what God is doing—when prayers remain unanswered and our stories remain unfinished—we can stay in the conversation.
John 15:4
Jesus later gives His disciples another invitation:
“Remain in me, and I in you.”
Remain.
Abide. Stay. Dwell. Continue.
Jesus doesn’t ask His disciples to maintain an impressive, uninterrupted devotional routine.
He asks them to remain in Him.
Spiritual practices matter. Scripture matters. Prayer matters. Making room for God matters.
But the practice serves the relationship. The relationship doesn’t exist to serve the practice.
From the Story
The Red Notebook Journey
The original Red Notebook began in 2009 as a simple rhythm of Scripture, noticing, writing, and prayer during a season when I had no idea what God was going to do next.
Now that old practice has become The Red Notebook Journey — A Guided Walk Through Prayer & Scripture.
The readings are smaller than the original challenge. There’s context to help you understand what you’re reading, room to notice and process, and space to pray.
And it’s undated.
Because missing Wednesday shouldn’t make Thursday feel like you’re behind with God.
The structure is supposed to support the relationship. The structure is not the relationship.
The Red Notebook Journey is coming this fall—and when my proof copy arrives, I’ll be walking through it too.
Explore the Full Conversation
Episode 41: The Gift of Being Here
What if you don’t have to put your life on hold while you wait for something to change?
In Episode 41, we explore presence, longing, and trusting God inside an unfinished story—learning that the unfinished thing can be enormous without becoming everything.
This devotional takes that conversation one step deeper:
How do we stay in relationship with God while we’re living the unfinished story?
Continue the Journey
If this devotional resonated with you, you may also want to explore:
Episode 41: The Gift of Being Here
Episode 38: What If God Is Already Making a Way?
Devotional 38: Before You Know What to Ask For
Devotional 39: Remember What You Know
Related Resources
Free Episode Reflection: Don’t Miss the Life You’re Living
Free Episode Reflection: The Pieces I Can’t See Yet
Companion Guide: More Than I Could See
Reflection Question
Where are you turning?
Not where you think you should be.
Not where you were six months ago.
Not where you were during the season when you felt closest to God.
Where are you now?
If life has changed your capacity, ask:
What could relationship with God realistically look like in the life I actually have right now?
Maybe it’s one passage.
One verse.
Five quiet minutes.
A prayer in the car.
One honest sentence to God.
And if you’ve missed a day—or a week, or much longer—what if you didn’t try to make anything up?
What if you simply did the next thing?
Because you’re not trying to catch up on a relationship.
You’re returning to Someone.
Final Thought
You don’t have to repair six months today.
You don’t have to read every chapter you missed.
You don’t have to prove that this time you’re really serious.
You don’t have to wait until Monday.
Just do the next thing.
Open the Bible.
Read something.
Notice.
Pray.
Stay for a minute.
And if tomorrow goes sideways?
Come back again.
Because Jesus isn’t asking you to preserve a streak.
He’s asking you to remain in Him.
When your story is unfinished and you don’t understand what God is doing, you can bring Him the question.
When you’re angry, you can bring the anger.
When you’re disappointed, you can bring the disappointment.
When you don’t have words, you can simply say:
“I’m still here.”
The goal was never an unbroken streak.
The goal was always relationship.
And when you realize you’ve wandered, you don’t have to catch up.
You can come back.