As humans, we try to avoid pain. We do everything we can to fill our soul’s aches and needs by self-medicating. Some turn to drugs and alcohol to cope; others fill our schedules with work 20 hours a day until we drop into bed exhausted; and yet others fill their minds with social media, television, friends, parties, travel, and any kind of noise or distraction just so we wouldn’t have to feel the depth of our pain and need. Because hurting sucks. Having a need only God can - but won’t - fill is really hard. It is the deep, personal, felt needs that maybe no one even knows about but we carry with us every day, year after year.
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My husband and I have a dream and a vision. Something we’ve prayed about, dreamed about, and talked about for hours on end. We were moving forward in the initial steps of this God-given dream with support from the right people, which included confirmations all along the way that God was about to fulfill what He placed in our hearts.
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I have so many friends who are hurting right now. I also know of many more — thanks to social media — people who I feel like I know in real life. It’s hard to know what to do or say when people I love go through hard things, and I never want to be insensitive to what they’re going through. Here are a few ways you can support someone who is hurting this holiday season:
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So often, we can’t see past the space right around us. We can get caught up in trying to see past the fog and figure out a way out of it. But maybe God just wants us to be in the fog for a little bit. Because it’s in that space that faith becomes a real thing...not just something we talk about.
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There are times though that I’m so focused on His good gifts that before I know it, my soul is out of alignment. Instead of praising Him in the present, I find myself feeling like a frustrated child. I didn’t say it was pretty, but it’s honest. And when this happens, God brings me back to a story He laid on my heart several years ago. A story of a little girl who is promised a special gift from her Good Giver.
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I love to worship Jesus. I love to pray, and I love to read His word. He deserves our worship, because He alone is God, and He is holy and worthy of our praise. In light of this, though, have you ever sat in church and just didn’t feel like it that day? I’m not condoning this feeling, by the way, because if we lived based on our feelings and thoughts, we would be letting the enemy thrive in our lives, and we never want to do that.
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Thanks to a certain Netflix show and some conversations with friends, I’ve been going through the things that I own, deciding what things to let go of and what to keep. My home editing has gone slowly because I stop to look at every single thing.
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A friend of mine lost her little girl this week. I won’t share the details out of respect for their family, but the events of this week have been on my mind and heart almost constantly. Even when I went to go to sleep last night, I couldn’t, because I was so consumed with thoughts of my friends who are walking through this tragedy. Do you ever wake up in the night hours, burdened for someone? That was me, all night long, last night. I know that whenever that happens, God is giving me that name for a reason: to wake up and to pray. I don’t usually get out of bed when I do this, but sometimes I do. I share that, because it’s so important to follow through with that thought when we’re suddenly thinking about someone we know.
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Do you pray? Do you ever pray for yourself? I ask this, because until a few years ago, I have rarely ever prayed for myself. I know it sounds silly, but I almost felt like it was selfish to pray just for my own self. I would welcome other people to pray for me, but myself? I don’t know. It just seemed weird and I never did that.
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There are usually two extremes we go to when making choices: we either pick too quickly, without thought or become paralyzed with the fear of making the wrong choice. Before we move any further, let’s clarify the type of decisions we are talking about today.
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This summer, I was laying out by my parent’s pool one evening and I saw two shooting stars within a span of five minutes. I smiled and wished upon those comets, just for the fun of it. There’s a part of me that will always have a child’s imagination and, for the duration of a story, I’m willing to pretend there’s a Neverland or whatever you wish upon a star really does come true. But does it really?
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If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know how much I love studying the Bible and talking about what God is teaching me through His word. There are a few tools I use almost daily in my quiet time that I wanted to share with you.
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Growing up there was one thing my dad had to tell me more than he should have: “Allison, you need to think before you speak.” My stubborn and prideful self was too focused on how I felt and getting what I had to say off my chest. Meanwhile someone was on the other end of my words, feeling the effects of my emotions.
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Worry and stress are seemingly inescapable. Even if you have a relaxed personality—which I for the record do not—you will still face numerous changes that are just part of life and will create stress. If you are already more prone to worry, then any event can cause you to become more and more anxious.
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About a year ago, I decided to do my first Whole30. One of the foods you are asked to give up for the 30-day eating plan is bread. But here’s the thing: I absolutely love bread. It only took a couple of days without it to make me seriously contemplate giving up and pulling into the nearest Panera. Needless to say, that month was a hard one. But the fast made me realize just how dependent on certain foods I had become, and each day, I had to make a conscious decision to stick with it.
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I’m one of those people who loves doing Bible studies. I enjoy completing the homework and always opt for the longer in-depth studies because I love studying the Bible. I actually enjoy diving into the original Hebrew and Greek text and trying to discern the author’s original meaning. But our enemy is always one step ahead, trying to figure out what might trip me up next. You see, an unexpected problem with my love for Bible studies is that there are so many to choose from. Way too many.
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The topic of anxiety is one that pulls at my heart like no other could. But I’m going to be honest, I don’t suffer from anxiety like most people do. I suffer from the outside looking in. I see people I love being swallowed whole by this epidemic, and I feel so powerless… but am I?
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I was mid-way through a prayer – I’m not sure I could even call it a prayer – as I was processing my fears and overwhelmed thoughts out loud. As I sat in my car, I couldn’t get my head to feel any clear or relieved no matter how hard I concentrated on giving my burdens to God.
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Ever since I was a teenager, I remember reaching into my pocket for my phone whenever I had a crisis. I’d quickly dial my parents and vent about the most recent school happening. Today, I still rely on others to listen and provide feedback on a how stressful work or a relational issue has been. In addition to my parents, my network has now grown to include more friends, coworkers and a fiancé for their opinion; I’m even in a group chat titled “The Counsel.” Big or small, I’ve been guilty of running to other people for help and encouragement instead of seeking God first. While there is a place for godly counsel and accountability, our refuge should not be in others.
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