A Deeper Dive
Fall is approaching and your girl is super duper excited! It is my absolute favorite season of the year. Even when we think about the Fall season spiritually in our lives, there is goodness that overflows from it.
Seasons, often, can require different things from us when we take a look at the spiritual meanings of what they represent in our life. What season of your life are you in spiritually? What does the weather around you feel like?
Is it cold and brutal?
Is it warming, occasionally rainy, and sunny?
Is it hot and muggy?
Is it cool, cozy, and breezy?
No matter what season you are in today, I want to encourage you, your season will change.
No matter if it's a great season or a hard season, here is the truth for each of us.
It's a season. Seasons change.
Do you believe that spending time in God’s Word helps us navigate the seasons of our life? Do you ever feel extremely lost as you read His Word? I can tell you that for as much as I read God's Word and as long as I've put in the practice of reading His Word, there are still some times that I get up from His Word and wonder, "What just happened?"
In John 1:1 It is written, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
I’ve studied this verse a thousand times. I believe that as straightforward as this verse seems, there is so much depth to it, yet I am still swimming around the surface.
A Breakdown of John 1:1
What existed in the beginning? The Word
The beginning of what? Time as we know it.
Who was the Word with? God
Who was the Word? God
So not only did the Word exist before we ever did. The Word was with God, so God too existed before we or anything else ever did. Not only that, the Word was a living, breathing expression (as described in the TPT translation).
Questions to Ponder: How does God want to take you deeper in this specific verse? What is confusing? What stands out? What questions do you have to ask Him?
In this world, I’ve realized that it is a must that we dive deeper.
It is a must that we dive deeper into God’s Word and what He’s speaking specifically to us. God tells us that His Word is a living and active Word (Hebrews 4:12). That means just like Him, His Word is not dead, it is alive and it will fit the many things we face today in life.
For example, I was reading Isaiah and as I was reading, this verse caught my attention immediately:
“Do not call a conspiracy,
everything these people call a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
Isaiah 8:12
When I read this verse, I paused... like wait, what?!
How does this verse just fit the things we are facing today?
Side Note: I am not here to comment on conspiracies or condemn them. If that’s the thing you believe in, it’s your life, Sis, I’m for you living that out based on what you truly believe within.
Yet, for me in a world where everyone has an opinion and a judgment for the decisions we make, this verse fits and that’s just what God means when He says His Word is living and active.
Can I be honest with you? This year as a new mom, I’ve had to become friends with the word grace. I have had to have extreme grace for myself in things that I previously could do easily.
For example, I am super behind on this Bible plan with a group that I’ve been apart of this entire year, but I refuse to stop. In the places I fall behind, I find grace and I keep going. I have accepted that I will continue well into the new year and I'm okay with that completely (*sometimes).
Yet, here is the thing, that made my blog about this topic more specifically today.
I do not believe that even as I give myself grace, I can continue with excuses that are meant to sabotage the very being that God is continuously creating.
It's something about this world, my purpose, the instructions I’m receiving that’s making me realize that this season I’m approaching will require me to get uncomfortable and make some necessary sacrifices to grow deeper in my relationship with God.
What does that mean?
It means, that I’ve gotta get out of my bed like I did in my pre-pandemic and pre-mommy seasons and truly get before God. It means that even when I do this and I feel like I’m sleepy and getting nothing from reading and journaling, I’ve still gotta be committed to doing it.
I not only want to do this first for myself, but I also want to be able to do this for my daughter. I want her to see that even if she has to stand alone, she still should stand on what she believes. I want her to boldly follow the inner compass that God has given her. I want her to enter a place in her life where she never picks up people pleasing. I want her to live the life of freedom that Jesus has given her and for that to happen she must see it.
Sis, is God calling you deeper? For you, what would that mean?
I can write all day about the reasons that I must get uncomfortable to shift into my next season, but you’ve already thought of your reason as you read mine.
So I can stop here.
Get uncomfortable, Sis.
Get uncomfortable, so that you can have the opportunity to be fully and boldly who you are.
Whoever, she is, deserves to be revealed and not hidden.
So how do we do this?
I believe it’s simple but simple never means easy.
Expose your current comfort level. What's keeping you from your next? What's allowing you to believe that even though you feel God calling you deeper, you are okay to remain where you are? What do you keep speaking about that you want to accomplish, but are avoiding the work? What are your primary excuses? Who around you is encouraging your stuckness or your stagnancy?
Pray every single day. Pray every single hour. Prayer is key. Have open and honest conversations with God about the questions, the confusion, the ideas, and the deep things that you are wrestling with internally. Ask Him to help you, teach you, and show you His way.
Humble yourself and listen. Be willing to look crazy for a season. Be wildly obedient to God. God instructs our steps but if we are not moving, how can He lead us?
Study His Word. Go deeper. Do not scratch the surface. Step off the boat and walk with Him on the water. Be willing to let faith lead you into places that you've previously struggled to understand. Let His Word become the armor that you will need as you step out daily into this world.
Silence the noise. Let this be a personal time with God. You don't need a bunch of people understanding what you're doing. You just need that intimate connection with God. Don't let the external noise in, let this place be sacred.
Make space for God to speak. Take time to do the work that will allow you to hear Him. Whatever that means for you, do it. For example only: no tv, no social media, fasting, etc.
Make room for God to move. Once you've spent the time daily doing these things repeatedly, allow Him space to move. Be open to meeting new people. Listen to the sermon that a friend randomly sends you. Visit the place that someone recommends to you. Talk to the person that is with you on the elevator. Make room for God to be God because that's who He desires to be in your life.
