For the next 30 days, I will be fasting from all technology, including internet, my iPad, iPod, and camera. This is something the Lord has been reiterating to me to do. The reason is because I really want to spend a month without distraction, just honing in on some new, fun, creative ways to experience God, the world, and more of my inner self.
So, that will include using some paints and art, sketching, playing music, having lots of conversations with locals, and challenging myself in new ways to read and pray. So please bear with me for the next month, as you probably won't get a reply.
I am so excited to see how God using this to speak to me. I am expecting big things, because in the moments I have actually taken the time to sit and listen, He has so much to say. Literally, He gives me words for other people in my life that are dead-on to what they need to hear. So cool. I am ready for more of Him, more of His miracles, more of His heart. And I really felt like this technology fast is something He is asking me to do, not to just take things out of my life, but to gain some more of His coolness.
Seriously, if you are not tapping into the intimacy of God; try it. Spend some quiet time in the morning before the world is awake, get a cup of coffee, get a journal, and just write whatever starts coming to you. It helps me not to filter anything, but just write, freehand… see what comes out. Sometimes I write what I sense God is speaking to me. And sometimes I just sit, quiet. This last month, I really got enjoy God through photography. I would go out on photography 'treasure hunts' to see more of His beauty in creation. But I have felt Him say that my technology fast includes the camera, because I really want to be fully present in every moment this month, not experiencing something or meeting someone with the motive of taking that 'perfect photo.'
I am so pumped. Hopefully some cool, creative, neat things will come out of this challenge. Want to do the challenge with me? Maybe for you, it could just be a 'Facebook' fast. How often do you update your status trying to impress people with the 'cool things' you're up to (I know I have done that, that's why I ask). Maybe it's time to take a month and just release that. Or your iPod, music… Crazy. Music is my lifeblood. But I felt God saying He wants meto find a new song. A new song that can only come from listening to Him in the silences….
Love you guys. I will fill you in as to how this goes at the end of this month. Until then, please keep me in your prayers as I work in Malawi, Africa. We will be working in a place called Sanga Bay with a South African family. They are missionaries with three children, who have established a whole center with orphanage, school, etc. It sounds like a lot of what we'll be doing is construction, so I will get my physical labor on! And we will be sleeping in tents, and bathing in beautiful Malawi Lake. It will be a pretty primitive environment, but that's what I expected coming on the Race, so… trying to keep my heart and mind ready for that. Bless you friends.
