Disconnect.
“Learn to analyze the situation alongside your values to determine whether you need to quit , say no, take five or simply rest. Quitting, saying no, creating boundaries and enforcing them are spiritual practices and do not make you weak, faithless, or shameful. They are steeped in wisdom, grace, and strength to outwork your healing and becoming and vitality. ”
-Liz Milani
There will be times in life where we need to separate ourselves and recharge. Disconnect from your surroundings whether that be the noise, people, social media, ect. We don’t understand how much of ourselves we give out daily until we have nothing left to give. We are always on the go, whether that be working and then having to shift gears to be a mom or a wife, a father, a husband, a caretaker, business owner, and then you may have friends and family pulling on you for support.
It can be a lot and you can start to feel like your being smothered. You have to get to a place where you understand that you can’t be everything to everyone or be everywhere at one time. I’ve struggled with this in the past because I enjoy helping others and being there for people in a time of need, but I needed to get to a place where I put ME first. Not selfishly but more of a necessity. It’s ok to want to help and be there but you have to be wise and not let it get to a place where you lose yourself in the midst.
#setboundaries
Disconnecting is something that I encourage everyone to do. We are all swamped with our daily responsibilities, but it’s important we take a step back & get in our quiet place, journal, breathe, check on your mental health. One thing about this pandemic is that it has shed light on the importance of Mental Health and the importance of self-care. We need to make sure we make time with God! We can take some time with our thoughts & our emotions. But, Most important God wants to hear from us, he wants us to talk to him about :
our life ( good & bad)
what to do next in terms of goals and future plans
how to handle situations and circumstances
how to grow/ mature in the things of Christ.
how to deal with those tugging on you left and right
those who aren’t treating you right
Your courtship/singleness/marriage/family….
Let’s not get caught up with people and seeking their advice or approval that we leave God out. We get our strength, wisdom and guidance from Him. Talk to God MORE.
The same energy we have with watching TV, scrolling though social media and spending time with our family and friend we need to have the same energy with God. If we can spend hours watching TV, on social media and with people we can give God more than 30 minutes of our time ( I’m speaking to myself as well).When going through life….
It’s hard to hear what God is saying when you stay connected to your distractions. It’s hard to hear from God and hear what He is saying with other opinions and voices. It may be a challenge for some people because they love being around people and that’s what gives them “life”. Just be mindful to take time for yourself. As we continue to grow and mature naturally and spiritually we need Gods voice to guide us and instruct us on what to do.
Jesus himself needed to go seek the Father, he would sometimes take a few of his disciples with him. There are many counts in the Bible where Jesus went away and sought God for direction and instruction ( Matthew 14:23, Luke 6:12, Mark 1:35, Luke 4:42 ) . Imagine if Jesus never took that time to seek the Father and disconnect himself from his disciples and those tugging on him for healings, miracles and deliverance? Many people would have suffered and life today would be totally different probably for the worse.
In Mark 14 there is a passage that speaks about Jesus going to Gethsemane to go pray. He brought with him Peter, James and John to keep watch as he prayed. Jesus was feeling overwhelmed with sorrow and needed to go seek God. When Jesus came back to his disciples he found them sleeping and gave them a quick rebuke and went back to pray and once again found them asleep. This happened 3 times but on the third time Jesus was like ok y’all aren’t working with me , i ain’t got time, let’s go, my betrayer is here.
I believe that during that time with God, Jesus was being prepared for what was to come. Jesus did not want any parts of this betrayal and even asked God to not allow it to happen but in order for Gods word to be fulfilled it had to happen.
As believers I would hope that we would want to be used for Gods glory. If you are a servant of Christ there is need for us to disconnect from people and things. In order for us to know what God is doing or what he wants us to do as servants, we can’t always be around people. Many of us (including myself) have missed what God was trying to reveal to us or say to us because we were busy bodies and not seeking Him and being sensitive to his spirit. Disconnecting helps us to be sober minded and not drunk with the world and our flesh.
So how do I disconnect?
What I am about to say may sound kindergarten but, If electronics such as your phone, social media, TV, video games are your distractions you need to put a time limit on them. So for myself I have a screen time and I will put a start time and end time and I cannot go on certain apps such as Instagram or TikTok until my time is up so I normally set it for a few hours. If your distraction is not set up like that then you need to have the self control to turn it off and walk away, leave the house if you have to.
Everyone’s disconnection may be different. Some may need to disconnect for a few hours and others may need to disconnect for weeks maybe months.
There are some people whose distraction isn’t electronics but people. Something that I say all the time is just because I’m invited I don’t have to accept the invitation. Being invited to places is great, fellowship is great, but every week? Every weekend? Don’t feel pressured into having to accept every invite. Saying no is healthy and ok. Take yourself out, and enjoy your company talk to God or just sit in His peace. That’s something I do. I will just sit in peace and quiet and enjoy the silence, in those moments you can find so much rest and tranquility.
So pretty much just separate yourself from the busyness around you and be still before God. Let him speak to you, calm your spirit, be naked before God in this time. When you disconnect you will come back with so much life and energy, peace, even more insight/ revelation on what God wants you to do.
So I want to challenge you as I challenge myself to disconnect as often as you can.
Let’s set our phones and distractions aside, say no to some invitations, be intentional. Let’s disconnect and take time for ourselves and reconnect with God.
i love you guys
xoxo
