S8 E38: There's No Shortcut, Easy Way OR Hack

In the last episode which was our Sunday episode that runs parallel with the weekly focus from the She is Awakening Seasonal Journal the weekly focus was Solitude. And I mentioned wanting to continue some of the thoughts started there in this week's episode that you are listening to now :)

In case you haven’t listened to that episode yet I’ll recap on a few things but you can go back and listen to that episode later.

Solitude can be an intimidating even scary word for some of us.

But as complicated as the word might sound to us…

 solitude is simply where we show up with God simply as ourselves

That’s it. Pure and simple.

A sacred space for us and our God

I shared how I think solitude has become a foreign and intimidating idea for us because we live in a culture that is addicted to noise. Our lives are filled with one distraction after another.  We have the world in our fingerprints. At any moment we can reach out to a friend across the world or be made aware of the latest news of the moment.

It’s a gift AND it’s a lot!!!

It’s a gift in that we can stay connected to people in a way that was never possible before, but it’s a lot in that we weren’t designed to have constant stimulation and dopamine hits… and it’s addicting. It literally changes our brains.

Because of the opportunity we all have for constant distractions, we are the ones who have to be intentional about how we want to live.  

How many of you have found yourself opening apps on your phone without any known thought that you want to once again check any email updates or see any latest posts on social? We mindlessly do these things because we’ve done it so often that it's a natural impulse and response within us.  It’s scary but no one is going to take our phones from our hands. It’s something we must intentionally make a choice to do. And when I started trying to intentionally not be so connected to a device in my hand. I found I had to take baby steps… walk downstairs and leave my phone upstairs.

This past week I shared a screenshot in my stories of my “weekly report” that pops up on my phone each week informing me of the hours spent on this little device. It informed me that my screen time was down 53% in the past week. So I was asking if anyone else feels like they’ve failed when they get the message of a lower percentage for the week haha I think it’s just how it’s worded that it always makes me feel like it is a negative which is really funny since it’s actually a positive and usually intentional.

But it doesn’t just happen…we have to be intentional about changing our relationship with our phones or continue being led by its influence and impact in our lives and the way we think.

our instinct is to reach out to someone …something … 

to ease our discomfort of being alone or give us the answer to the question

when I think we all know the real answer to that scenario

anything we reach for to ease any pain or discomfort in our lives is only a temporary fix

this looks different for each of us…

it can be shopping, pornography, or a bag of cookies… it looks different, but the roots are all the same. 

we do the same with people and there’s nothing wrong with processing but even with that, I think we can push it just like sharing personal details about someone else life in the name of concern or we need to be praying for them.

How about we use the oxygen and energy we just used to personally do just that?

Because here’s what I’ve found when I do that FIRST, I don’t find the need to share it with someone else!

We all have this desire to connect and express our needs and desires 

we just need to keep that in order

And sometimes we do need to have a conversation with someone else about I’ve found that after ‘processing it with Holy Spirit’ it’s a little different conversation than what the draft I had been creating in my head 

Why do we continually reach for advice or opinions from others instead of getting still and allowing the spirit of God to teach us and lead us?

The struggle is nothing new…

Eve was built with everything she needed to thrive and fulfill the purpose of God in the world. She was able to communicate with the God of all that is yet in her free will she chose to entertain and listen to the offer and opinion of something outside of herself and God.

I don’t know why we always want the shortcut… the presumed ‘easy way’... the hack…

The story about priest and lady…

YIKES!!! That’s such a powerful example and def something I’ve had to grow in as someone who grew up in a pastor's home and in vocationally ministry for most of my life. There is definitely a time for each of us to extend the love and grace of God to those around us ABSOLUTELY!! But we don’t have to do the work of the holy spirit in someone's life. And it took me a long time to realize that I couldn’t save anyone or draw them to God. This is the role of the Holy Spirit and it’s not my responsibility or ability!

We can trust God to be God's friends.

I often make the statement of God knows us better than we know ourselves. and I think this is such a key thing for me that I continually find myself highlighting because when you really come to believe this in the core of all that you are. 

you trust him in a different way. 

I mean I would have always said I trusted him but I definitely was saying that purely ‘in faith’ sometimes and I definitely didn’t understand his working in my life at times.

and even though some of that can still be true I still don’t always understand his way …most of the time 

what has changed is my understanding that he KNOWS me better than what I perceive to be true about myself or my desires and he is working on my behalf for my GOOD. which doesn’t always appear or feel good.

This is a gift I have found and continue to find in solitude. Myself in God. The real me… me not defined by anything I’ve done or will do externally but my spirit that is known by God.

and it’s been an interesting journey to see a shift in my identity. on the outside, it can appear to those seeing any work of my hands that I offer out in the world that I’ve maybe found a new level of confidence in the last decade.

My reality on this side feels so contrasting to striving and being seen.  maybe it’s the scripture my yoke is the easy…

the years of trying to ‘put on’ or ‘find out’ what works or is accepting God everyone …is long gone. 

The years and layers of struggle and surrender have been walking me home to where it all started.

God. 

God alone 

and God inviting me into his story.

I think often about the little girl lying in bed at night falling asleep thinking about the vastness of all that he is.

Life can get a little sidetracked as we learn to ‘walk and talk’ in our humanness. 

This learning requires falls and bruises and bloody knees.

And when we can have empathy for ourselves and others as we do for the children in our lives learning to walk and talk it’s a beautiful gift to ourselves and others.

we can become grateful for the scars because without them we wouldn’t be walking where we are in this moment with the voice that is ours for such a time as this.

 the scripture from the weekly focus found in Psalm 73 feels like an anthem…

You’re all I want in heaven!

    You’re all I want on earth!

When my skin sags and my bones get brittle,

    God is rock-firm and faithful.

Look! Those who left you are falling apart!

    Deserters, they’ll never be heard from again.

But I’m in the very presence of God—

    oh, how refreshing it is!

I’ve made Lord God my home.

    God, I’m telling the world what you do!

This is why I show up here in your ears and offer the hope of the transforming power of God that is available to each and every one of us.

Thanks for being here and listening but let’s not be like those who hear and do nothing with it

Spend some time with the one who knows you best today

He loves you 

And is for you

And so am I!