Learning How to Walk

It’s one of those moments that all parents look forward to and dread at the same time: to witness their little child take their first steps.  Their once so small and very needy little treasure is  now growing up into an independent little toddler.  Parents are excited!!! And sad… their little one wants to explore while momma wants to hold tight her little one and soak in every moment of love.  She wants them to stay small but knows they must grow up.  They must learn to walk, then jog, then run…  But my question is…

When did life become dependent on how busy you are, how fast you are running, how productive you are?  What happened to the quality of life?  When did we substitute              over-involvement for silence and solitude? When did we start to believe that being alone actually means you are alone?  

Seriously, I have been wondering about this for a while now!! And I totally did this…I still do. I skipped walking and instead started to sprint through life.  Everything rushed past me and sure I enjoyed some of it… but how much of the real Carly was there… present both physically and mentally????  Probably not much. 

Our society has not only accepted this mentality and way of living life like a race, but it actually congratulates people on being busy!!  

Now I am wondering…. Were we really created to live like this?? Running and Rushing from place to place??!!?  Ummmmmm… NOOOOOOOO!!!  We were made to walk.  To experience life not just get through it.  

In High School, I was over-involved and under too much stress.  I was stretched thin and not living life the way God calls us to live…

I am learning to walk again. And if I am completely honest, it is like soooooo hard.  It's like having to retrain a human on how to be, well, human.  I have been living life with the wrong mentality, with the wrong goals.  It has always been about how much I can get done, rather than how well I am actually doing.  It has all been about how many people I can impact, rather than authentically, and lovingly impacting a few.  

God is changing me and it is uncomfortable.  It is.  I will warn you, it is not easy. But!! I would also like to inform you that life could not be any better!  Instead of rushing through a Bible passage, I linger in the word longer and sit in God’s presence for as long as I can rather than only a few minutes.  I have learned to Shut UP!! And to stop speaking over God.  Sometimes the prayer I am about to pray, or the question I am about to ask, is already being answered if I would just stop and listen.  Or even, sometimes the things I am praying about are not in God’s plan…maybe I have been praying wrong too!! Rushing into what is going on in my life, in my kingdom instead of focussing on God’s Kingdom and His will.  

Walking through life with Jesus is seriously the best thing I could ever recommend to anyone who is feeling restless, overdone, stressed, unmotivated, unhappy, confused, and just wondering if life was meant to be something so much more than what it has become.  

So, if you are just like me and thinking there is more to life than getting a job, marrying someone, having a family, learning to cook, doing well in school, having lots of friends, and so forth.  Then Please join me and start learning how to walk again! ( All of these things are great, and most of these things are very important to myself, but not if they are pushing God and a healthy life out the window) 

Encouraging Verses: Here we can see Jesus going off to pause and reflect.  He did not just stay for a few minutes, no He lingered there.  He did not worry about where He was going,no! He offered everything up to God the Father! Soooooooo... We should do this too! We need to stop racing everywhere and instead start slowing down and walk through life with the best companion out there (any doctor who fans?? hahaha) NO it is not the doctor!  It is Jesus!!!!!!

"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." -Luke 5:16

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." -Mark 1:35

Communication Through Silence

So, I know its been a while since my last post and I have very much missed writing.  But recently I have been learning something new.  The importance and existence of silence.

As I wrote in a previous post, I was in a very loud and very verbal season with God.  It felt like everything was speaking to me in ways that I didn't even understand and I didn't know how to express what I was learning.  God shined some light on spoken word and this whole idea of writing a blog.  I took it and ran.  The Holy Spirit gave me strength to go for miles and miles, years, and years... and then all of a sudden *cricket sounds*......

Seriously, I was like WWWWHHAATT??  Um excuse me upstairs... where did you go? Um, what were you saying again?

At first, I heard nothing.  I started feeling discouraged and confused.  What happened to me and God? Why was He not responding anymore?  But boy did I have it wrong.  God never hung up the phone...HE was still speaking to me... but in a new way...through SILENCE!!!

This idea popped into my head one day when I was on my way up the hill ( or minny mountain in my opinion) located on my school's campus.  I walked up that hill (mountain) and started my normal routine.  I put my blanket down, put my lunch pail on the side, drink some water, (try to catch my breathe...it is a big hill!!!), and sit down.  I opened my SheReadsTruth app and read what was part of the series we were going through.
"If only you would be altogether silent! Fo you, that would be wisdom." ~Job 4:15

God still speaks through silence.  And I am learning that silence is necessary for a balanced life!  Sometimes when there are no words...maybe I am not looking at the current decision, or problem from the right angle, maybe I need a new perspective.  Or maybe, just maybe, I NEED TO BE PATIENT and wait on the Lord! Silence doesn't mean there isn't a reply, or that you have not been heard, or that someone doesn't hear you.  Silence is Powerful.  Silence is Humbling.  Without silence, words would not be, we would all speak jibberish.  Without silence, music would sound like noise... Every pause of breath, every crescendo and decrescendo, every time the conductor allows the sound to ring in the room after it has finished... they are observing silence in its truest form... Silence is Beautiful.

So I am not going to make this a long post, or speak on and on about how amazing silence is.  It is really hard! But, I have also learned so much in this new season of life and I look forward to learning more and more each and every day.

My challenge for you all today is to find some time to be in silence.  When you pray, take some time to make sure you are not speaking over God, it may save you some words if you just let Him say what He needs to say!  Also, I challenge you all to stop looking at Silence as something revolting.  Welcome Silence in and learn to listen for the faintest whisper.

I love you all and am praying for you!