Last week my mom shared with me a new link up that she thought I would be interested in through the blog, The Time-Warp Wife. It's called Titues 2sday and it's a link up to encourage women to joyfully live out their roles as wives and keepers of their homes.
Back in February, Valentines Day to be exact, I was standing in line at Lifeway purchasing a new marriage devotional for Brandon and I. When I was waiting in line, I started looking at the million {not being sarcastic} knickknacks that they have for sale by the check out counter, when I noticed a Women's Audio Devotional.
Obviously he placed it on the counter where I was checking out for a reason:
-It was only $5.
-It's by a few different women that I have heard of and have done some of their bible studies.
-I'm in the car for 40 minutes a day, {boring}.
-I could always use encouragement from Godly women!
So, I thought, 'Ok God, I'll get it.' I bought this $5 Women's Audio Devotional.
As I was listening to one of them {I can't remember the speaker} she told a story about how her daughter was getting married and she wanted to get a stamp made of the return address for RSVP's. So, she gets on Etsy and begins the search. After typing it in the search bar she had 64k results pop up. She begins to scroll and scroll and scroll. Several pages later she finally picked a stamp. Once she clicks on it she then realizes she had several fonts to choose from AND several colors to choose from. 'OMG' is what she said! {Obviously knowing that she had the choice to sit and decide for another hour or so on what font and color she wanted.} She looked at the clock and realized how long she had spent on this and felt God speak to her. He said, 'Go back to the first page. Pick one from that page you like, and you will keep the color and font that it's already in.' And so, she did!
She went on to talk about how being excessive is so unnecessary and how we can spend hours and hours doing something, but can't give even half of that time to God. Which led me to instantly think of 'idolatry'. Which is something that, as a Christian, I have always struggled with. Things in my life gets a lot more time then God does and always has.
So, I admit to say that my most number one, ridiculous obsession that I had, was Instagram. Why? That's something Brandon always asked me. What is so great about Instagram? {Because yes, there are many times when I would ignore Brandon because I was on Instagram-sad wife moment. He deserves much more then that.} I loved Instagram because it was NOT Facebook. Can I get an amen? Facebook is annoying. People post their entire life story on there. Everything from how much they hate our president, to how they are folding their socks that just came out of the dryer, and telling their girlfriends how much they love them. Facebook is extremely annoying to me. Yes, I'm on it, but it's strictly to connect with out of town friends and families, and to keep in touch with everyone that I simple just don't have time to call daily. {Facebook rant over..} Instagram is different. It's just pictures. It's that simple. No ads, no complaining, no updates every 5 minutes. I just like it. And it used to be a lot different before when it was just an iPhone app.
God, thankfully and finally showed me the light. He showed me that it is ridiculous, it has nothing to do with him, and it's taking up a lot of time and energy that I could be giving to him. I got on Instagram and 'unfollowed' several people. Mostly the pointless 'celebrities' that mean nothing to me, and just a bunch of people that I never even talk to. If you got the boot, I apologize, but surely you understand.
I then began to reflect on many other things in my life. If I can get up at 5:00 AM {yawn} and go workout for 45 minutes every morning, but I barely have time to squeeze in a prayer, isn't there a problem? If I roll over turn off my alarm clock and check my Instagram app instead of rolling over to see my husbands sweet face first, doesn't that seem like a problem? Shouldn't it be the other way around? That I can barely fit in a run because I'm spending so much time with my sweet Jesus that deserves every bit of it. So then I begin to think of how many times I say, 'God, can you please stop time for like an hour today? Thanks!' But why do I ask that? To have time to run more errands and do chores. Not to spend time with him.
Needless to say I have done a lot of adjusting in my schedule. Instead of rolling over and looking at Instagram, I roll over, open my bible app, and read the verse of the day. I literally start my day off with Jesus. I have deleted a lot of apps. I have cut down my time on 'ridiculousness'. I have cut even more TV shows. But, I know that when I get to heaven, God will be grateful that I spent time with him on that Monday night from 7-9 then sitting on my couch figuring out who the Bachelor is going to choose and then sit beside in the 'After The Final Rose Ceremony' asking why they are already broke up. Am I right? I know that God will be thankful that I spent more time and energy doing marriage studies and devotionals with my husband ensuring that we have the best marriage that we can possibly have and that we will be feeding each other {almond} cake at our 50th anniversary party!
God has been pulling at my heart now for over a month on this specific topic and since he has finally shown the light to me, I figured I would share!
Back in February, Valentines Day to be exact, I was standing in line at Lifeway purchasing a new marriage devotional for Brandon and I. When I was waiting in line, I started looking at the million {not being sarcastic} knickknacks that they have for sale by the check out counter, when I noticed a Women's Audio Devotional.
Obviously he placed it on the counter where I was checking out for a reason:
-It was only $5.
-It's by a few different women that I have heard of and have done some of their bible studies.
-I'm in the car for 40 minutes a day, {boring}.
-I could always use encouragement from Godly women!
So, I thought, 'Ok God, I'll get it.' I bought this $5 Women's Audio Devotional.
As I was listening to one of them {I can't remember the speaker} she told a story about how her daughter was getting married and she wanted to get a stamp made of the return address for RSVP's. So, she gets on Etsy and begins the search. After typing it in the search bar she had 64k results pop up. She begins to scroll and scroll and scroll. Several pages later she finally picked a stamp. Once she clicks on it she then realizes she had several fonts to choose from AND several colors to choose from. 'OMG' is what she said! {Obviously knowing that she had the choice to sit and decide for another hour or so on what font and color she wanted.} She looked at the clock and realized how long she had spent on this and felt God speak to her. He said, 'Go back to the first page. Pick one from that page you like, and you will keep the color and font that it's already in.' And so, she did!
She went on to talk about how being excessive is so unnecessary and how we can spend hours and hours doing something, but can't give even half of that time to God. Which led me to instantly think of 'idolatry'. Which is something that, as a Christian, I have always struggled with. Things in my life gets a lot more time then God does and always has.
Here is what was greater then God in my life:
-iPhone {and all the aps}
-Working out
-AdvoCare
-Computer/Internet
-TV
-Friends
So, I admit to say that my most number one, ridiculous obsession that I had, was Instagram. Why? That's something Brandon always asked me. What is so great about Instagram? {Because yes, there are many times when I would ignore Brandon because I was on Instagram-sad wife moment. He deserves much more then that.} I loved Instagram because it was NOT Facebook. Can I get an amen? Facebook is annoying. People post their entire life story on there. Everything from how much they hate our president, to how they are folding their socks that just came out of the dryer, and telling their girlfriends how much they love them. Facebook is extremely annoying to me. Yes, I'm on it, but it's strictly to connect with out of town friends and families, and to keep in touch with everyone that I simple just don't have time to call daily. {Facebook rant over..} Instagram is different. It's just pictures. It's that simple. No ads, no complaining, no updates every 5 minutes. I just like it. And it used to be a lot different before when it was just an iPhone app.
God, thankfully and finally showed me the light. He showed me that it is ridiculous, it has nothing to do with him, and it's taking up a lot of time and energy that I could be giving to him. I got on Instagram and 'unfollowed' several people. Mostly the pointless 'celebrities' that mean nothing to me, and just a bunch of people that I never even talk to. If you got the boot, I apologize, but surely you understand.
I then began to reflect on many other things in my life. If I can get up at 5:00 AM {yawn} and go workout for 45 minutes every morning, but I barely have time to squeeze in a prayer, isn't there a problem? If I roll over turn off my alarm clock and check my Instagram app instead of rolling over to see my husbands sweet face first, doesn't that seem like a problem? Shouldn't it be the other way around? That I can barely fit in a run because I'm spending so much time with my sweet Jesus that deserves every bit of it. So then I begin to think of how many times I say, 'God, can you please stop time for like an hour today? Thanks!' But why do I ask that? To have time to run more errands and do chores. Not to spend time with him.
Needless to say I have done a lot of adjusting in my schedule. Instead of rolling over and looking at Instagram, I roll over, open my bible app, and read the verse of the day. I literally start my day off with Jesus. I have deleted a lot of apps. I have cut down my time on 'ridiculousness'. I have cut even more TV shows. But, I know that when I get to heaven, God will be grateful that I spent time with him on that Monday night from 7-9 then sitting on my couch figuring out who the Bachelor is going to choose and then sit beside in the 'After The Final Rose Ceremony' asking why they are already broke up. Am I right? I know that God will be thankful that I spent more time and energy doing marriage studies and devotionals with my husband ensuring that we have the best marriage that we can possibly have and that we will be feeding each other {almond} cake at our 50th anniversary party!
'Come close to God and he will come close to you' -James 4:8
What a great post! Although my husband isn't home and is stationed over seas, I have that exact problem. I turn off my alarm and get on Instagram, wait for my husband to skype me before he goes to bed, and then go workout or get ready for work. It's ridiculous. I have even more time alone (with Jaime being gone) so I can and should talk to my heavenly Father. Instagram shouldn't even place when it comes to what I do first every morning. I gotta work harder to re-priortize whats important in my life. Thanks for being real. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post girl, seriously. You hit the nail on the head. Very refreshing to read.
ReplyDeleteI love this - and I am the same way in the mornings...Fbook, Insta, Twitter...instead of more important things. I need to re-evaluate. I'm feeling the tug on my heart from God and I dont know why I am fighting with it.. I appreciate your insight, as always! :)
ReplyDelete