Lent, My Wonderful Counselor, and Hope

For my whole life I thought Lent was something "other religions did". I never thought of doing anything Lent related until our pastor sent an e-mail with a free devotional book (it was 99 cents on my Amazon Kindle app but you can download and print the PDF version for free). The link for that devotional is here: Free Lenten e-book

After getting this e-mail I started thinking about Lent. One thought was that I wondered how I would have time to do this devotional... I mean I'm already doing the read through the Bible thing - how can I add ONE MORE THING?? I also was thinking that it puzzles me, they say it is 40 days but they don't include Sundays - it is actually 47 days if you include all the Sundays including Easter Sunday. I always thought they did 40 days because of what Matthew 4:2 says of Jesus, "After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." it's probably irrelevant - what really matters is the heart... I read a little about lent here. I was challenged by what it said about its "purpose is to set aside time for reflection on Jesus Christ - his suffering and his sacrifice, his life, death, burial and resurrection."

 

I have really been struggling lately and I've been working on some spiritual disciplines but even in doing so have been quite the mess emotionally. I am very grateful to have a great counselor and amazing friends during this time - and even more importantly - the most WONDERFUL COUNSELOR: Isaiah 9:6 "His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." I always thought of the practice of Lent as just some religious practice, but God placed it on my heart that I need to give up social media during this time. There are many reasons for this - but the only one that matters is that God asked me to do it. Originally I was going to keep posting my "thankful posts" and just do it from Twitter. However today He made it clear He wants me to give up both Facebook and Twitter. GASP.

I will be blogging and will post my blogs to Facebook and Twitter but will do that from my blog site. I will be deleting the apps from my phone and will be taking the time I usually waste perusing social media sites to do good things - what these things are I do not know. I know some of them will be praying and spending time in God's Word and worship. God may lead me to do other things that I don't know about yet - maybe spending time with a friend in need, maybe spending time reading a book.... I just want to be in tune to God and hear His voice and what He asks me to do.

I also am going to continue doing my thankful posts, but I will be doing these privately and will post my list from the 47 days after Easter. I also decided to start a new blog - a private blog, to do my journaling. I've always had a weakness for those pretty blank books - but my brain thinks faster than I can write legibly so typing works so much better for me. Often times when I post on here I think hard about my audience and don't always just get out things I need to get out of my system - and those are things that  need to be between just me and God.

I am hopeful that this time of fasting from social media and seeking God's face more intentionally will be a blessed time in my life and in the lives that God touches through me. Hope isn't a word I could have honestly uttered this morning - I am grateful that tonight I can honestly sign off....





Hopefully yours,

Sherri