(#21)

Should I Do This

With Others? ~ Or Alone?

People embarking on this course often have feelings of wanting others to go through this with them.  One dear mom put it this way:  "Anybody else ready to embark on such a journey and want to jump in with me?" 

I love her heart!  It's only natural, when facing something as unsettling and even downright scary as this "season" to want to have someone join you. But at the same time, I want to encourage you to realize that God may very well be asking you to embark on this alone. :-) If God brings a companion your way, great; but whether He does or doesn't, each one needs to "hear and obey" His leading of *you* ~ which may very likely be all by yourself. God often calls us *away* ~ even from our dear friends, or from others walking the same path. In my finite wisdom (my VERY finite wisdom) I can see a couple of reasons for *why*...
  
One is that He wants you ALLLLLL to HIMSELF! Just you 'n' Him! ;-) Simple but profound. So you're not really alone or "all by yourself" at all!!! You will get to know God in a much deeper way than you have ever known Him before!!!  You should not be afraid of this ~ other than a *healthy* "fear of the Lord."  God is totally approachable ~ when we come to Him humbly. He WANTS us to "approach His throne with confidence"!!! It's HIS idea; not ours! ... This is reason enough, but I thought of another, which is really just a "side benefit"...
 
Another reason is that He wants you to learn to hear HIS voice, to go to HIM with your questions and confusion, and to not hear ~ or rely on ~ ANY other voices. Marilyn Howshall wrote a wonderful little book called "Secrets of Solitude" which is actually part of the course! That might be a good one to start off with! "Discerning of Spirits" by Francis Frangipane is also excellent.  (It's really on "hearing God.")
  
My encouragement is that, "if today you hear His voice [calling you to a "season of re-education and renewing of the mind"] don't "confer with flesh and blood"; just OBEY. Jump in the deep-end knowing, confident, that God is IN there to catch you!!! He does not call us to something that He is not fully ready and able to lead you through! (If you are one who wanted others to go through this with you, please do not feel a speck of embarrassment or condemnation! This is all given with a very gentle heart to ONLY encourage. I KNOW the fears!!!!!! Quite well, in fact!!!!! I have cried MANY tears of fear, utter frustration, torn with NOT knowing what to do or how to do it!!!!!! (And it TRULY felt like a TEARing in my heart and guts!!!)   :-)   But God is bigger!!! I LOVE this analogy (following) and have probably shared it here. (I KNOW I have at two recent conferences, so maybe I *haven't* here after all...)
  
Imagine walking into a completely pitch-black room. No light whatsoever. Dark. You grope for the light switch, find it, and switch it on. Immediately the darkness flees. What's more, IT HAS NO CHOICE. There is NO arguing between the light bulb and the darkness; light ALWAYS "triumphs" over dark. So why are WE not always victorious? Because we make choices that are not in the light. Or we choose to NOT bring our thinking ~ that is causing us heartache, frustration, etc. ~ into the light where it will be healed and corrected. THAT is what this "season of re-education and renewing of the mind" is ALL about!!!
 
If God leads you to connect with others, that's fine! I just wanted to encourage you to jump in without anyone else, and especially to not wait!

  

With a big hug,
Barb

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