Social Media Fast

Over the past few weeks I’ve had a heavy prayer on my heart. Thirteen years after leaving my abuser and I still struggle with control of my thoughts. I struggle with the slowly moving evolution of something entering my mind and, instead of me telling the thought to go away, I let it meander around. And, after a little meandering around in my thoughts, the conflicting message gains momentum and eventually becomes “reality” in my head.
 
Because I don’t stop the temptation of the thought or the lie immediately upon entering my mind, it becomes stronger and bigger than life when I do decide to tackle it. 

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Regaining Control of My Thoughts

Pondering this brought me to the reality that this approach puts me constantly in the reaction mode. Here I am years into actively working on my transformation to survivor and I realized I am still reacting to parts of my world versus living in my world completely.
 
I wondered, what would happen if I put down my phone and instead talked to God for a week?  What would happen if I devoted all of my social media, reading the news, and checking out Facebook time to talking with God? Here’s what I discovered:

• Without these external influences, I was in the moment with greater clarity and functionality. The hours in the day really felt like they lasted longer!
• My listening skills were greatly improved. I heard my family members better and participated in conversations more thoroughly.
• By turning to God more diligently, negative and damaging thoughts didn’t stick around my mind as long. I was much faster at identifying the negative thoughts and turning to God’s word to combat the negativity prior to the thought being more permanent.

 
On day 3 of my social media fast I answered a huge prayer for someone in my family. Without me really realizing it until after the situation developed, God used me to deliver a message for Him. Being in that moment allowed me to brag about our awesome God and ensure He received all the glory.
 
On day 5 of my social media fast, I focused hard on the message placed in my heart that even though I can’t control my world, I can control my thoughts towards the situations in my world. I worked hard at distinguishing these two significant but often overlapping dynamics in my world. I went back to empowering the strength of the Holy Spirit to give me the discipline to kick out unhealthy thoughts immediately.
 
The day after I finished my social media fast, a major breakthrough for my heavy heart was lifted.
 
For three continuous days after my fast ended, a person or co-worker was compelled to tell me how God just answered a prayer for them. Here I was, live and in the moment, hearing how God had JUST answered other people’s prayers. I felt so much clarity in bringing Him the praise and glory for answered prayers.
 
I have never experienced this many answered prayers by people in my world in such a short period of time. To say I am in awe is such an understatement.
 
This was by far the best fasting experience I have ever undergone. I now understand the true value of fasting and how this experience brought me so much closer to God.
 
I apologize for the long blog but my excitement couldn’t be contained,
 
Blessings to all,
 
Sue 

Being Mindful

Last weekend, I caught myself thinking about one thing while doing another. Trust me, I find myself doing this all the time! Yet, this time was different; it was more significant because for the first time, I changed my response.
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I stopped my thought, realized what I was doing, and redirected my thoughts to my activity.
 
I was being mindful of the moment. Really, really mindful of directing my thoughts to the task at hand.

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