{obedience} disconnecting to reconnect

You may remember back here where I decided to give up Facebook for the month of March.  I wasn't very successful...I did manage not to post anything on Facebook for the entire month, or respond to anyone on there, but I did give in and check it most days after the first week!

After this experience, I quickly realised how much of an addictive thing Facebook had become in my life.  I felt the urge to check it...all the time...and this was unhealthy.  I also hated the fact that it took away my time as a 'mother' to Miss Placid and I started becoming a bit absent. As she would be playing, it was very easy to just sit beside her and scroll through the news feeds, seeing what everyone was up to.  I really believe God was doing a work in me to make me understand that Facebook was somewhat a disease I needed to rid myself of. It wasn't a hard decision, and sometime in the beginning of April I deleted our account and haven't looked back.

However, it didn't take me long to find something to replace Facebook in my life....and it was called 'Instagram'.  Another social media app where you post pictures of whatever you please. People can follow you, and you can follow others. You can comment on peoples pictures and hash tag them into a category for the world to see.  At first, I didn't see it as a problem at all. I only had close friends or family following me and I was really just using it to put pictures of Miss Placid up for them to see.  But then, my followers started increasing, people I didn't even know were wanting to 'follow' me and my pictures...and you know what....it felt good. It was nice seeing that number of people go up and I would look forward to checking in to see what new comments people had put on my pictures and if anyone new was following me.

I caught up with a beautiful girlfriend during the week, one who has been through an extremely tough time this last year.  She lost her first born, a beautiful baby girl, at birth.  She is absolutely amazing, and the fact that she has remained steadfast in her faith, relying on Gods goodness and faithfulness in such a traumatic situation, is testament to her beautiful relationship with Christ.  We got chatting about social media, and how she also is no longer on Facebook and how she doesn't miss it either.  She was saying her friends are always asking her to come back on so that she can not 'miss out' on anything! Its funny how quickly people forget that you can still be a part of someone's life without living vicariously through Facebook or social media! We discussed how you end up following and having so many people follow you that aren't necessarily great friends, just acquaintances.... but they end up knowing every intricate detail of your life and what you have been up to!  I remember going to a gathering a couple of months back and people who i didnt even know came up to Miss Placid and I and said "Oh, this is Miss Placid - i feel like I know her already!!" It was pretty confronting and scary really!  

We also spoke about how Instagram and Facebook becomes such a pin up board for the perfect life and it can be quite a selfish feat.  You end up comparing yourself to the lives other people are 'living'....or the lives you believe they are living through the select images and posts they put up! People appear to have such perfect lives on there....it is easy to feel quite complacent with your own and with the things you do during the week! That, along with looking forward to seeing what people have to say about your pictures or your posts and comments, for me, I began to realise was quite a vain thing.

This last week, I again am feeling the heart of God give me a gentle nudge.  What am i really using this app for? How much time am I spending on it as opposed to spending time with my daughter or time spent with God? I quickly felt shame and have realised that again, I need to make some changes.  I do love instagram for the fact of sharing photos of Miss Placid with my family, so I will be cutting it right back to have only family and friends that live away that will be able to follow my photos on Instagram.  I will only be posting photos of Miss Placid, and the occasional shot of me or Mr O with her as a family {In time, I may even get rid of it totally, and just stick to the good old fashioned emails to close family and friends!} There is no need to be posting pictures of what I am eating for lunch, of selfish 'selfie' shots of myself, just so I can get 'approval' from others as to how I look. My approval should be coming from only one person, and that is God himself.  I shouldn't be glorifying myself the way I have been. 

1 Timothy 2:9 (NIV) says "I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 

 I also like how this is worded in the Message:

1 Timothy 2:9 

"And i want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it"

This isn't for everyone, and a lot of people don't struggle with addictions to social media the way I have in the past...but this is something that i have been convicted by in my spirit and in my life and it is time for me to stop conforming and start transforming my life the way God wants me to live it!

I am sure there may be other things that may pop up as temptations to distract me as I go through this journey to being a more present mumma, wife and daughter of Christ, but I know that with his strength, and if i continue to listen to his gentle nudgings, I will stay on the straight and narrow.

Much love

Daughter of the King
x

P.S. If there is anyone that is really going to miss seeing Miss Placid on Instagram, and doesnt receive my 'monthly' Miss Placid updates by email, but would like to stay in touch that way, send me an email and I will add you to the mailing list. 

Getting my attention...

Malachi 3

Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty.“Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

Ever get the feeling God is trying to tell you something? Get something across to you...shouting out with a big sign saying "HELLO...OVER HERE!"

Yes, well...for me it has been about this. When God calls, we should obey and answer. I came across this verse in my quiet time last week, but it is not the first time a verse on tithing, or a word about tithing has come to me. We cut back on our tithing some time ago as we were struggling to keep on top of life's many bills that were getting thrown at us left, right and centre. We still are. I look back now and think it was silly of me to cut back on the one thing that is so important...giving back what was never mine in the first place. We can whine about how it will make our lives so much easier to not pay that 10%...but when a verse like this jumps out at you, how can you ignore the fact that God wants to bless you and we are robbing him by not being diligent with our tithes.

I know this can be a touchy subject for some, and that some may frown upon me for doing this, but I am just being honest and out there about a lesson I have learnt. I feel guilty for ignoring His voice, but I know that He is wanting to bless us, wanting to make things easier and 'open the floodgates' in our lives.

Have you ever had an experience like this? When you feel God is kind of tapping His foot at you, waiting for you to answer His call? What about tithing - have you been thoroughly blessed for being persistent in giving back what was always His?

Much love