Ever since I started my first blog back in 2015 I’ve always had, in the back of my mind somewhere, the idea that I might start a Christian blog one day.
But honestly I always thought that “one day” would be a long time in the future… maybe a retirement project!
I definitely did not think that “one day” would be in 2026!
(I was thinking more like 2036… or even 2046, maybe!)
But then on 26th November 2025, God began to speak to me… In a way he has never spoken to me before.
Now, I am someone who hears from God a lot, and I have done since I was a teenager…
But this was different.
Really different.
It’s kind of hard to describe how… but it was more / bigger / clearer than I have ever experienced before.
And it was every day.
Multiple times a day.
For over two months.
I literally have notebooks and notebooks of everything he said to me during that time.
God spoke to me about quite a few different things during that time…
But the main one was he told me to start a new project: a new website on the topic of spiritual disciplines.
Now, Spiritual disciplines is a topic I’ve been interested in since I was a teenager.
At some point in my teenage years, I’m not entirely sure when, I was at a Christian conference or festival, and I happened to pick up a book called Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster… and I absolutely devoured that book and it had a big impact on my own spiritual growth and sparked a lifelong passion for the spiritual disciplines.
Anyway, over the course of a few days, God began to reveal his plan to me in detail…
I was to create a website, called The Spiritual Habits Project, with articles covering all the what / why / how type questions: on the spiritual disciplines generally and on each individual discipline.
Articles like:
- What are spiritual disciplines?
- How to begin practising the spiritual disciplines
- What is the A.C.T.S. model of prayer?
- How to read the Bible: a step-by-step guide
- Do Christians have to go to church?
- The Daniel Fast: what it is, why do it and how to do it
- What is the gospel message?
But that was not all…
God also told me I should create 30 Day Challenges on each individual discipline, as a way of helping people take a deep dive into one particular discipline at a time.
Challenges like:
He also revealed to me a whole bunch of other things that would come after that… (I’ll share more about those things in the future!)
And he gave me a very particular Scripture…
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
That Scripture kept following me round for WEEKS… It kept turning up in the most unlikely of places.
I felt like he was highlighting a few things through this Scripture, but one of them was that this new website would be a shining beacon of light – that he was calling ME to let MY light shine through The Spiritual Habits Project.
But then he gave me a vision…
In this vision, I saw a group of Christians in a church, and each Christian was fitted with a dimmer switch… But, their dimmer switches were turned down very low, so their light was very dim.
I felt God say to me that this is what Christians are like when they neglect the spiritual disciplines… when they don’t pray, when they don’t read their Bibles, when they don’t come to church very often, when they don’t worship, when they don’t serve etc.
Then he showed me what happens when those Christians start embracing the spiritual disciplines, when they take the spiritual disciplines seriously… when they start praying, reading their Bibles, worshipping, fasting, serving etc.
As the Christians in my vision did that, their dimmer switches got slowly turned up and they started glowing brighter and brighter.
And as I saw that happen, I felt God say THAT was the purpose of The Spiritual Habits Project! To help ordinary Christians rediscover the spiritual disciplines… and that, as they do, they will glow brighter and brighter, and other people would see that light and turn to God.
But there was more… I also felt God say that as Christians get serious about the spiritual disciplines, they grow in Christlikeness. And it is Jesus shining out of them that makes them glow.
(Side note: there is a slightly complicated relationship between spiritual disciplines and spiritual growth – the short version is the spiritual disciplines don’t produce spiritual growth in and of themselves, but rather they are the primary mechanism which God uses to help us grow in godliness. I cover this in much more detail HERE.)
As I was musing over these things…
I heard the faint sound of music in my head… At first I couldn’t identify the song, but then I caught a few words “for such a time as this”. And then I tried to remember more of the words… and eventually they all came to me in a “whoosh”…
“I have a destiny, I know I shall fulfil. I have a destiny in that city on a hill…”
When I sang that line: “city on a hill” I just burst into tears… It was the fifth time God had sent that verse to me in just a handful of days.
(The song is called “I Have A Destiny” – you can read the lyrics here and listen to it here).
I immediately headed to Spotify and played that song over and over on repeat with tears streaming down my face… It felt like every single word was relevant to me and this new project God had been speaking to me about. (Go listen to it… it’s an amazing song!)
And then I suddenly remembered where that “for such a time as this” quote came from, originally… It’s from the book of Esther:
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:14 (NIV)
And as I read that scripture I felt God saying to me:
“Don’t remain silent… I want you to build this website… I have given you the experience, skills, resources and money to do it… the time is NOW. My purposes will be accomplished. But the question is – are you going to play the part I have given you to play in history?”
I wanted to say yes, but I was very unsure how this would work…
After all, I already had a full time job running my two other websites Easy Peasy Foodie and Productive Blogging. I also didn’t feel like this new project was something I should just jump into without some serious prayer and discernment.
So I resolved to spend the next two months doing four things:
- Praying: seeking God for guidance and confirmation (sometimes accompanied by fasting).
- Reading every book I could find on spiritual disciplines.
- Figuring out how I could reduce the time I spent on my other websites to make time to work on this new project.
- Talking this through with some wise Christians who could help me in my discernment process.
It was an interesting two months…
It was definitely not all sunshine and rainbows!
Honestly? I really wrestled with God over it…
At times I worried… How would I manage the extra workload? Did I really want to do this?
At times I doubted… Did I really hear from God? Maybe I got confused or misunderstood?
At times I grumbled… Why God? Why have you given me this extra thing? I already have enough on my plate! Can’t you ask someone else?
At times I started fretting over all the details… How would this work? Would this even work? What if I put all this time and money into The Spiritual Habits Project and it’s a huge flop?
But over and over I heard God say things to me like:
“Your job is simply to do what I ask you to do… let me worry about all the details.”
“I will help you accomplish whatever I tell you to do.”
“There is nothing I can’t do… step out in faith and obedience, I will do the rest.”
“I will work through you to accomplish the work I have called you to do.”
And that Matthew 5:14-16 passage just kept coming up again, and again, and again!
And then, as I was reading one of the books on spiritual disciplines, Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life by Donald S Whitney, I read this line:
“The light of Christ will shine more steadily through you the more you persevere in the practice of the spiritual disciplines.”
This line jumped out at me off the page at me and felt like such a huge confirmation of everything God had been saying to me through Matthew 5:14-16 and the dimmer switch vision.
And though I really wrestled with God during this time, I felt an overwhelming sense that God was saying, “I want you to do this.”
And so, I bought the domain www.spiritualhabitsproject.com and, on the 3rd February 2026, I began work on this website…
And no, that bit wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows either!
In fact from the moment I started building this website, I felt like I was under constant spiritual attack – I had some serious wobbles and doubts, and I really struggled with building and designing the website (even though I had built two websites before and had no such struggles building those!)
Then I had a few random health issues – I developed a weird skin problem on my scalp, I got completely taken out for a couple of weeks by a mystery illness… and then I had a week where I felt so stressed, it was like I was being chased around by bears that whole week.
But in a funny sort of a way, I felt like all this was a confirmation that I was doing the right thing.
And despite all the setbacks, I persevered… and the most wonderful things happened…
God miraculously give me the time I needed to work on the website and the challenges… He gave me all the money I needed to bring this project to life, he gave me not one but two new employees to come help me on the social media side of things… and slowly, slowly, little by little, The Spiritual Habits Project came to life…
I can’t lie, it’s been a real rollercoaster since November 2025… There have been some real ups, but also some real downs…
But that is how life is with God… It’s a roller coaster, for sure, but it’s the absolute best kind of roller coaster! I’ve learnt so much through this experience, I’ve seen God’s hand in all of it… and I can’t wait to see what God does next!
Of course, this is not the full story…
The full story, is far longer and involves far more twists and turns…
The full story already fills four notebooks and involves many more verses, songs, visions, highs and lows…
But I figured, we’re already at 2,000 words… you probably don’t want to read what must be 20,000 words or more…
So this is the short version!
If you have got this far… and especially if you have been reading along excitedly cheering on what God is doing… thank you!
But could I ask one small favour?
I would super appreciate your support to spread the word about TSHP!
Here are 4 easy ways you can support The Spiritual Habits Project…
- Follow TSHP on Instagram. (Bonus points for liking/commenting/saving etc.)
- Share TSHP with your friends / family / church etc.
- Sign up for The 30 Day Prayer Challenge.
- Pray for me and this project.
You don’t have to do all four – even one or two would be a huge blessing to me 😀
Thanks in advance for all your support!
