Sunday Reflections Fifty One

Hello Sunday friends!

Guess what, we found a church that we’re pretty excited about!!

After trying a new one every single week since we moved here, we finally found one that we THINK we might stick with – we have been twice (will be going today as well) and are really enjoying it. The Pastor is originally from Seattle too, which is kind of nifty.

Last week, his sermon REALLY hit me. It was on Elijah and how God used him SO much in the Bible. But, before He used him, he had to wait and be prepared.

He had to live by a stream, and rely on the BIRDS to feed him. LIKE, WHAT?! If God told me to just look to the birds for food, I’d be like “you crazy God.”

This also shows how I suck at relying on Him.

But the Pastor’s sermon was all about how we have to go through isolation, to really learn to turn to God. After isolation, then we must go through learning to depend on God…and, once we have shown that we are able to do that, He can use us.

I was SUPER convicted about his points on isolation. I am TOTALLY isolated here in Missouri. Mr. FFF is literally never home, since school is a BEAST. And, I don’t know anyone really. It’s definitely hard to make friends when you work from home, so I am hoping I can get plugged in at church.

But, the way I use my isolation time? Not so great.

I work, of course. I work a lot. Once work is done, I spend like 20 minutes doing a quick devotional and then I watch Netflix for an hour and go to bed. Repeat over and over and over each day.

I realized that I really need to devote time to really GROW with God and learn how to make him the center of my life. Maybe, because I haven’t been fully committed to that, is why I haven’t fully had my “food breakthrough.” He can’t use me, and allow FULL healing, until I actually really draw near to him.

That also super worried me though. In Elijah’s story, after isolation came dependence. I know I am SO guilty of not depending on God. I get into the thinking of “I earned my money. I earned this food. I do everything for myself.”

So not the right mindset. EVERYTHING comes from God.

So, to be honest, the next step of dependence scares me. Will God take away what we have? Will times get really tough? I don’t know.

But, I do know that my next “action step” is to dive deeper into scripture. I JUST bought the book/study guide “Becoming More Than A Good Bible Study Girl” by Lysa TerKeurst  (the founder of my fav Proverbs31.org) and it says the book will help:

• Learn how to make a Bible passage come alive in your devotional time.
• Replace doubt, regret, and envy with truth, confidence, and praise.
• Stop the unhealthy cycles of striving and truly learn to love who you are and what you’ve been given.
• Discover how to have inner peace and security in any situation.
• Sense God responding to your prayers.

I also bought a book called “Girl Defined” that is all about God’s design for woman. I ALSO JUST finished reading “wanting to be her” which was a GREAT READ – highly recommend.

I am hoping that a combination of books that teach me how to make the Bible come alive – since I honestly don’t have a great sense of how to study it beyond SOAPS – and ones specifically on body images issues, will help me fall deeper in love with The Lord, who I actually am, and spending time in The Word.

So, my challenge question: how do you spend your isolation time?

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