freedom to feel

Mourning and Dancing. I am doing a #shereadstruth Bible study this month on Mourning and Dancing. Over the weekend, we were instructed to spend time praying and reflecting over Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4:

There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance.

I wanted to share the prayer I wrote in my journal this morning as I reflected on this…

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and Holy Spirit, today I pray for the freedom to feel. To fully experience both the laughter and the tears, both the mourning and the dancing. I don’t want to hide or stifle my emotions, or to get stuck at one extreme or the other. 

Lord, you have ordained both, and both are used for Your purposes. There is a time for everything. Help me submit to You in that, and to walk faithfully with you through both the joy and the sorrow, and even when the two are inter-mixed.

In every season, help me be in tune with Your heart and with those around me. Break my heart for what breaks Yours, but let me also rejoice in Your plan, Your kingdom, Your work, Your salvation. May I rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. And God, may I be open and vulnerable enough to allow others to rejoice and weep with me. 

Amen. 

How have you experienced this topic– mourning, dancing, the intermingling of the two? The freedom to feel, and to allow others in on it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

How I'm Pursuing God

 We all know it, there are seasons when it’s difficult to pursue God, or to maintain a growing relationship with Him. For whatever reason – whether it’s busyness, pain, distraction, or complacency – we somehow get off track, and it takes a lot of focused effort and intentionality to get back on track again.

I’ve been in one of those seasons recently, and these days are the ones of intentionally pursuing Him again.

Are you there, too? Or do you need to be there?

Here are some ways I’m pursuing God right now:

• Reading through the Psalms. I struggle with knowing what to read in the Bible. Admittedly, there are days I can just pick it up, let it fall open, and read something incredible that speaks to me. But more often, I need a focused reading plan, something to give me direction as I read.Right now that’s a reading plan called “30 Days in the Psalms.” This plan gives 3 or 4 Psalms to read through each day, each based on a theme like Blessing, Confidence, Doubt, or God’s Power. It has been helpful to focus on a specific attribute or topic each day, rather than just reading through the Psalms in chronological order.

• Writing down what stands out. I have a note on my smartphone that’s simply a running list of quotes or thoughts that have spoken to me, that I want to remember. Some of them come from sermons or Bible studies, others from emails or things people have said to me. Anything that specifically stands out, grabs my attention, or that I think – God is saying something to me in this, I write it down immediately while I still remember it, so I can come back later and contemplate it more deeply.

• Trying to grasp the Gospel. The Gospel – the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – is the basis for our faith, our joy, our spiritual life. That’s a fact we would all agree with. But at times I get complacent with it, and it becomes just a Sunday School story that I quote and nod my head to, and it doesn’t make a real difference in my daily life.I’m not the only one, right?

  So lately I’m asking God to make the Gospel real to me again, to remind me what His death on the cross and resurrection to life did for me, and still does for me today. I want to keep that always in front of me.

• Trusting His promise. The Bible says that those who seek the Lord will find Him. That’s a promise, and we can stand with all our weight on His promises. This one tells me that it’s not my responsibility to find God – that’s His end of the promise. My part is to seek Him. To pursue Him. His part is to be found. To meet me in the middle. To come out of hiding and say, Here I am.

  So I want to be faithful to do my part to seek Him with all my heart (Jeremiah 29:13), trusting that He will be faithful to do His part to show Himself to me.

• A new Bible study… And if any of you lovely ladies would like to join me, I’m planning to participate in the new Bible study coming out from She Reads Truth on July 18th, called “Mourning and Dancing.” Note: It’s not required to purchase the book, you can read the study directly from their website or phone app.

 

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share in the comments or send me an email: how are you pursuing God these days?