I truly thought that as we entered this Lenten season that I would be called to do something drastic.
I thought that God was asking me to step away from facebook and the twitter-verse.. life has been wide open lately.
I truly believe that there are some seasons of your life that God calls you to not necessarily give any thing up sacrificially, but calls you to focus intentionally in the midst of the chaos.
Life is busy right now. I have three great teenagers. One is graduating from high school in 3 months. Two will graduate next year. Are you picturing this with me? My pouring into their lives daily (in this way) is slowly (and quickly) coming to a close.
My hubs has a high stress job and tends to travel alot..
My mom lives close by and needs me more and more..
I have a full time, wide-open job that I love.
So… I struggled when I shared with my hubs that I thought God was calling me to step back from FB and Twitter and he responded negatively. He wasn't mean and he didn't shrug off the conversation. Please don't misunderstand me. He checked me on my motives. The conversation turned to his encouragement not to step away completely. Encouraging others and relationships are a big part of who I am. If I stepped back from those two formats completely I wouldn't be myself. True.
Conflicted. Isn't that part of the point of Lent? To sacrificially give up something that prevents you from digging deeper into your relationship with God?
Confused. Aren't you supposed to spend the season of Lent in reflection and intimate examination of your heart and your relationship with God?
I think the answers are yes and yes.
Here is how God is using this season, and quite frankly it's freaking me out a bit. IT's SOO personal. So stinking personal. ( I KNOW!!!)
A Thomas Nelson sponsored devotional taken from 66 Love Letters: A Conversation with God that Invites You into His Story by Dr. Larry Crabb.
An email in my inbox every morning for crying out loud. I am on day seven. ONLY day seven. I've been on my face every time. Every time.
Outside of some amazing Bible Studies and reading the WORD for myself, I dare say there has been any time more personal. I am almost afraid to say any more about it.
So, consider this.
Could He possibly ask you to intently focus during Lent while not giving anything up?
Could He possibly ask you to get to a place of victory as you begin to surrender to His will?
Could He possibly ask you to sacrificially give of your time?
Let me know…
Me.. He's got me on my face. It's okay, there is a great view down here.
I receive that devotional in my inbox too. Have yet to look at a single one.
I love that He uses different people, different things, different ways to get our attention.
For me, I have felt He has made this Lenten season all about me. I know, right? But by making it all about me, I am really focusing on all about Him in every nook and cranny of me. My thoughts. My feelings. My words. My actions. My body. My beliefs.
I agree that it isn't always about giving up something or doing something else.
It is, I believe, more about being able to really hear Him and obeying Him with all my heart.
I'm glad you haven't given up fb and Twitter. I think your man is right. It's not that you YOU need fb and Twitter. It's that WE need to find you there.
Love you.
Sooz
This was the first year I’ve participated in Lent. Like you I felt God asking me to give up Facebook and Twitter for the next now 38 days. However I have given them up. One of the underlying reasons was addiction. I was far more interested in FB & Twitter than the things of God. It’s been a good week so far.
I heart you … that is all.
I think this is a wonderful post. I love how you talk about sometimes God “calls you to focus intentionally in the midst of the chaos.” That’s what I need to work on. Great thoughts lady 🙂 Miss you!
Thanks for sharing! In my struggle its usually uncovering the deepest intent of my actions…I so desire to be obedient at the deepest levels, but my shallowness floats up and must be dealt with again…for me keeping boundaries and always asking myself “what is the point” of what I am doing has helped me to recognize my true intent when I am on the fence on whether or not to continue…and God kindly whispers almost always the wisdom of why He asked or if indeed He didn’t! 🙂
Hi Dedra,
This is a great post. I am excited to look through your blog more. I love it because its really authentic. You are blogging about what's really going on in your heart and your life. Thanks for doing that! This post is helpful to remember God is personal. So personal we end up on our faces a lot because we are really known by him. Encouraging me to come to him today… thanks!
Katie
I have never been here before, and rather than lurk my first time here:) I am Actually commenting:)
I LOVE this post:)
God is found within the social network, people do seem to forget that!
My closest friends in my life, and probably yours too, have been found through social networking:)
I think a lot of it is that there is so much chaos from people in a day, that you just need that "neutral" person to chat with sometimes, who just sees your heart.
It takes years for us to sometimes get to know people we meet face to face. But social networking allows us to see the heart FIRST:)
I'll never forget meeting a few siestas in september. And it was crazy how not strange it was. Because we already knew each other:)
Anyway:) thx for letting me ramble:) Hopefully I will get to meet you in two weeks:)
xoxo
angie