Well, today starts what I am going to call a 30-day spiritual journey! Yes, it IS required for a class that I’m taking called Biblical Worldview: Personal Responsibility… but I really DO want to take this opportunity to learn more about myself, learn more about my God, and grow in His grace and serving His people!!
There are three elements my professor wanted us to incorporate or focus on: fasting (from media, NOT food!), stewardship, and silence/solitude. This is a very open-ended assignment, so he is not telling us what he wants us to do specifically in regards to these three areas; he is telling us to be intentional in some way in each of these areas and write a 4-5 page reflective paper about the experience.
Below are the tentative plans I made for myself. I decided that they’ll probably only change if Abba leads me in a different direction throughout the 30 days. š
Fasting:
I decided to give up Facebook. Yes, people do a lot of communicating with me through Facebook for even school-related things, but there are many other options for communication: calling, texting, email, etc. and I can take a 30-day break from it. I’ve been wanting to get rid of Facebook (in a short-term sense) for a while because I can get distracted so easily by it, and this gives me a perfect opportunity to do so! Because I usually only text or email for finding times to connect with people face-to-face, I decided it probably isn’t necessary or helpful for me to ban that stuff entirely… especially email — my profs probably wouldn’t like that! š
Stewardship:
Though most people think of stewardship as wise money-management, I think that it is SO much more than that. I believe that it is managing ALL that God has given us wisely, whether that’s time, talents, resources, friendship, skills, etc. I decided for this aspect of my journey to invest more in my current friends and to make some new ones! I don’t know how (and don’t really want to) quantify this exactly because I don’t want to force friendships, but I want to be able to love and serve others in new and Spirit-led ways.
Silence/Solitude:
I LOVE silence and solitude. I am really fed by the LORD when I actually take the time out of my day to be still before Him and seek His Face, even in times of His silence. Unfortunately last semester I really lacked in this area, and in hindsight I realize that it hurt me a lot more than I thought at the time. I want to be very intentional about how I spend my time in Scripture, in prayer, and in quietness before God, listening for His Voice and His leading. This I also do not want to quantify because I know that it will become a mechanical, check-list mentality for me if I do so.
Please join me in prayer for this next month as I discover more about my God, myself, and His world and leave room to foster a deeper relationship with Him. I would love to hear how Abba is working in your life through fasting, stewardship, and silence/solitude! And I’m sure there will be difficult days; if you feel led to encourage me, I would be humbled and honored! Thank you for being my brothers and sisters in Jesus and my dear friends.
Philippians 1:3-4
thewayofredemption 