Been a minute since i posted last. But i am back lol.
Warning, there is nothing fitness related in this post however i would love you to read from beginning to the end.
I had decided to take some time off social media. Two weeks to be precise. I had been feeling this urge to do so for a while and finally allowed God to do his will. I logged out of all social media accounts and didn’t look back. I was also fasting and praying so that greatly strengthened my decision.
I did it for several reasons but mainly because i wanted my free time to be spent in the presence of God and not on clicking through social medias or trying to see what people had going on.Do not get me wrong i am not saying social medias are the evil ones. Actually sometimes they are lol, but i think sometimes its great to really just reflect on what you spend your time on and if its taking away from God’s time. Its easy to get carried away with whats going on in peoples lives and looking at your life to see how you measure up. Thus forgetting that you do not need to measure up to anyones standards but only up to the standards of God.
I didn’t think social media really took much of my time to be honest but after taking the break i realized how much i was able to share with God. It not only influenced my quiet time with him but even other areas of my life. Materially, i was not comparing my life with anyone especially because we live in the days of credit cards, loans and fake lifestyles but i think unconsciously i compared some accomplishments especially business wise. You know like when you have to trust the process and be an acorn first before becoming an oak tree. Its hard trusting the process, its hard being an acorn when you really want to just be an oak tree. You really just want to skip steps 1,2,3,4 and jump to step 5. That needed to be corrected so i am having to let God increase in my life however he sees fit.
During that 2 weeks i got ill for a couple days, then right after that i lost my Grandma (on my mums side). This was crazy crazy hard. Like it was so sudden and we didn’t see it coming so when i heard i was so confused initially, cried like crazy and thought i wasn’t going to come out of it. I have heard people lose their grandmothers and how hard it is but honestly i usually thought it can’t be that hard lol. Well guess now i know. She was 86, bless her heart, so full of life and all. I dint know she was that old lol. I and my brothers joke around that she should be drafted into the FBI cause that woman was something lol. She will be so quiet you won’t think she noticed anything and the next thing we got reported to our parents for blah blah that we did during the day and I’m like “what? how did you see that?” lol. I didn’t really want to do anything anymore and just wanted to sit and stare into space till whenever. Anyway, i know God loved her more so trying not to dwell on it.
It also just made me realize how short life is. She lived long no doubt but the fact that we do not know when our last day will be. You talk to someone today and you expect to see them tomorrow.
James 4:13-17 says 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
We do not know tomorrow or what it holds, we only know whats right in front of us now. Even if you have plans for tomorrow, its all still up in God’s hands and you do not know how your perfectly organized plans will really turn out.
That just makes me call out to anyone living their lives without Christ, think you have it all figured out. Or living a lukewarm life and gauging your life by comparing it to the secular world around you, satisfied that your life isn’t as bad as that other person. Without Christ you are nothing. Call out to him and he will reach out to you right now.
Back to my break, i learned several things from God during this period and he is slowly working on me and taking me through a new path. I am learning to seek God’s face at all times, seek and pray for humility. My husband also helps me on this journey. we usually wake up at 6am daily to have our morning devotions and then he decided he wanted to be waking up at 2:30am! I am like emmmmmm lol. We don’t always wake up at 2:30am though, won’t lie that time is hard. But just seeing him hungry for God and seeking direction is so inspiring.
John 3:30: He must become greater; I must become less.
This verse speaks volumes! I mean you can’t have two bosses on one team. One has to back down for the other to lead and for me, i have to back down for God to lead.
James 4:13-17
Romans 8
Hebrews 13:5-6
Isaiah 58
Isaiah 45
I also studied David and learned a lot about him and why he was loved by God. I had stumbled upon 2 Chronicles 7:14-18 and there it talked about walking faithfully like David so i decided to study how David walked. I saw that he did everything God told him to do and his heart was pointed towards God. He had absolute faith in God and loved God’s law and his perfect word. He was also very thankful and truly repentant.
There were also some websites that were my focus through out
http://theincrease.org
This website talks about the stories of athletes who let God into their lives and use their stories to influence people
http://www.oneflesh.com
This website talked about Marriage stories from various perspectives. One of the stories i absolutely loved was http://www.oneflesh.com/stories/the-engles They shared how God brought them together. Its not your typical boy sees girl, likes girl, try it out if it works, break up if not. Nope far from it. They let God truly lead them. They served God in their various ways whole heartedly and God somehow showed them his plans for their lives. I just love how they trusted and waited on god and didn’t take matters into their own hands. To have a great marriage, you need to consult with the maker of marriages which is God himself!
Mount zion movies (lol i had this on lockdown!)
Nigerian Gospel movies. I usually watch nigerian films on youtube but throughout i stuck to these ones cause each one had an amazing message of Christ. Most especially just trusting God and his plans for us. His plans may be totally different from ours but i will rather choose his plans than my limited vision
http://www.focusonthefamily.com
I always listened to this on my way back from work on 95.1 at 9:30pm. So many amazing stories from people. From some stories i realized that with God 1+1 is not always 2, i t may be 10 or any weird number that you wonder how in the world did he come up with that lol. It also showed that we care so much about the end result that we lose focus on the growth God is giving us through the process.
I know some people will say, it was just 2 weeks, why is she making it seem like it was a year blah blah or like its some serious mission. To that, each one for himself. I am usually on Instagram a lot lol and for me it was more of a journey towards something not just an absence or lack of interest in social media. Anyway, i am back now and glad to be back.
Welcome back! 🙂
Thanks for the links..
And I get the lessons gotten from your break seeming like a year’s lesson…its amazing what we can get from our time with God without the attendant distractions.
Going off for a bit also helps us to put things in better control. Ie, the internet.
Thanks for sharing the lessons.