Simply Renovated

Well day one of Lent and already God is teaching me. We all had to go to the sand yesterday and write and wipe away and pray....

we already failed at multiple "promises" of what we've decided to "give up". I got to the end of the day where my quiet time begins and thought...."God I don't feel convicted to give any of this stuff up!" and almost instantly...actually more than almost...like as I was saying "...this stuff up!" God spoke one word to me.....just one. Not fasting, not TV, not doing two different devotionals...nope...just one word.

I'm not going to lie...I didn't like the one word but it made sense. It really is the one thing that takes the most time away. I honestly don't know why I even enjoy it so much....because it gets in the way of the most important things in my life....

"Jesus said to her, 'everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give to him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'"

and then Ann Voskamps writes it like this.... "The world is mostly salt water. We're dust and this world is mostly salt water. We're thirsty and we're drinking down salt water dreams, salt water days, salt water likes, salt water distractions and we're all still thirsty - we're all still dying here."

The world attracts you to these salt water dreams and distractions only to leave you hanging and crawling, parched and dying of thirst. "do this and you'll be happy", "buy this and it will make you rich", "invest in this and you'll be fulfilled" and yes religion and Christianity do it as well..."do this and you'll be closer to God", "do this so that you look Christian" and it goes both ways.

"Go to any other source but JESUS for your drink, and your thirst just gets worse."

These next 40 days need to be about giving up a little more of yourself so you can give Him more of yourself. Give up something or don't....the real question is how are you going to give yourself to Jesus?

That one word is still ringing in my head. Really? But I have a business....it's easy...I do like it...but I was also hearing... "it fills you with anxiety and worry. It takes away time...precious time. I need to be first in your life. It really is a distraction in your life."

.....go to any other source but Jesus for your drink....your thirst gets worse...you will die of thirst....

So for this lent...although I am late...this is what I am giving up.....

facebook

pinterest

I don't think I have a problem :) but it is a definite distraction. I will leave facebook up ALL DAY LONG and although I am not sitting at my computer. Maybe I'll walk by with laundry in hand and see a message or notifications. I will sit and respond and then just decide to catch up with everyone which I have a HUGE problem with. What happened to relationships? I feel I have become almost socially awkward because of social media. Like it's a challenge for me to carry on a conversation or remember to ask someone how life is because I read all about it on facebook. Yes, I do run my business through facebook. That is my love hate relationship. Honestly I've never needed a website because facebook has been the primary marketing tool to get my business where it is...but I hate it because it gives people free reign to get into my life. I will still check my business page once a day for emails...but it will be a set hour in the day that I return those emails.

Ahhhhh.....pinterest. Another love hate relationship. Let's face it, pinterest has put some awesome meals on my table...however it's also made me desire things that are meaningless. It makes me want a better house, a better wardrobe, better hair and so on....so bye bye pinterest for 40 days. I think I'll miss you....maybe....

I want a lent that gives back to the Lord and takes away consumption of things so that we can consume God....He can consume us....