QUARANTINE!…again

I realize it’s only been 10 days since my last blog post, however, these days, I appear to have slightly more time on my hands. Not for long though 🙂 Over the course of the last few weeks, I had been thinking back on my time in Asia. It’s funny, I sometimes forget the fact that I was quarantined to my room for the last month that I was in Thailand. A whole month of my life, just *poof* disappears from my memory of my time there. However, it’s become very important to me now more than ever that I remember everything about my time spent in quarantine. I learned so much during this time. Ah, time. I remember saying just a month ago about how I wish there could be more time in the day. I was taking 22 credits and two online classes. I was overwhelmed and I was wishing for more time in each day to get the things I needed to get done. Now I have it. I will admit at first I was discouraged. Right as I felt my life was getting back on track… But, the more I look at parts of the situation as a whole, the more I see this time has been given as a gift. So, in light of the fact that this same time last year I was being quarantined, I am going to share with you what I learned, how it affects the now, and ways to combat idleness and quarantine blues. Ready? Here are just a few ideas to “fill the time”. 

I say “fill the time” lightly because I do not think God gave us this time away from business to simply fill the void with other house projects to get done. So, before I start, I have no “crafty” ideas or anything like that. But i can say, these habits and ideas have transformed my life in the best way possible. 

1) Be Intentional. I am aware that in some ways it can be difficult to be intentional with building your relationships with others. However, we live in a world where it’s so simple to text, call, and facetime the people we either miss or are thinking/praying about. So, this challenge is to write a letter. I don’t care who it is, what your relationship is with the person, or what color pen you use, simply write them a letter. If it’s a newer friend, take the time to write out your testimony for them. Share with your family what you did that day, or week. What your new goals are, etc. Share verses of encouragement to someone you may know is struggling. The point is, write a letter. Write multiple letters. But mail them out! It does no good to take the time to share with someone that you thought of them and cared enough to hand write a letter if they never get the blessing of reading it.

2) Read Your Bible! This really should have been number 1. I have seen it all over Facebook to read your Bible rather than watching Netflix. I couldn’t agree more. But I would like to also challenge you in this. Don’t just simply sit with your regular devotional and read your Bible for the 10-30 minutes you normally do. You have been gifted with TIME! Take your time and enjoy and savor every word God has to offer you. Soak up all the  things He is trying to teach you. It is good to use devotional books. I have several that I use, however, in Asia I did not have this. All I had was my Bible and my journal. It was during this time that I had to really try to dig deep without the help of someone else telling me what the Bible means. I had to actually pray about what I was reading and ask my own questions. When I did this, I learned so much! Even simply where the different books are. Get familiar with which scriptures say what. The greatest advice my mom ever gave to me was if you are going to go thru the old testament, be sure to read either a Psalm or something from the new testament as well. While in quarantine last year I developed my own reading plan. I started in Genesis. Each day I would read a chapter or two from Genesis, and then a chapter or two from Matthew. When I finished Genesis and Matthew together, I then moved to reading Exodus and Mark, and so on. Along with this I read a Psalm and/or Proverb each day as well. Not only did I do this, but I made sure to split it up throughout the day. There is no rule saying if you already read your Bible that day, you can’t read it again. 

3) Journaling… I am terrible at this which is in a way one of the reasons I blog. I can go back I see the places I was and the ways in which I saw God move. Now, I know other people love journaling. I think its great being able to write your thoughts down. However, when I say journal, I do not just mean writing your feelings and/or what you did that day down in a book. Get creative. Write your prayers down. Draw a little sketch or something. Use your journal to also write down scripture. When I was getting ready to come back to the States, someone very dear to my heart died… I am not very good at expressing my feelings, but I found this “grief” Bible verses list on pinterest. It was a writing plan. So rather than just reading each of these verse, I wrote each set of scripture down in my journal. I did one scripture a day and let me tell you. It helped me so much. It put my focus back on God and how He holds my heart rather than on the fact that I missed the funeral, or never got to tell him thankyou for all his support. Write out a Psalm that speaks to you. 

4) Did someone say Psalms?!?! I love the Psalms. One excercise I did with my team as a whole was writting our own Psalms. I love the say in which David is able to share his heart with the lord through these. They’re like poems or songs. Take the time in your day to write out your own psalm to the Lord. One thing I love about the Psalms is that they are not simply happy songs about God’s grace and love. Sometimes, David felt heavy and he used these to not only express gratitude but to share his brokenness too. Be vulnerable with the Lord. 

5) PRAYER. Prayer is such a powerful weapon against the enemy. On thing I had to really work on ( and I still do), is not simply praying before I read my Bible or before meals, but reserving a specific time in the day to pray. I do not mean just praying real quick saying “thank you Lord”.  Although that is still good, I am talking about intentionally spending time talking with the Lord without distraction. Turn your phone off or put it away from you. Open your journal and make a list of all the things you think need prayer. Go to the Lord with a thankful heart. Write down all the wonderful blessings He gave you this week, big or small, and the start thinking of specific things in your life you wish the Lord to move in. Think of people who could you prayer and pray for them too! I have also found that while we can pray whenever and however we want, during this time, try praying on your knees. It doesn’t mean God will hear you more, or give you the answers you want, but it ‘s a good excersise in submitting to the Lord. He is our king. Again, you do not have to do this, but it’s very humbling and intentional. Either way,  Make this time intentional and specific. 

6) Flailing worship. yes, I just said flailing. This practice seemed to make me feel a little awkward at first. Even seeing it seemed a little, different. However I fount it to be one of the most freeing things I have ever done. Obviously, everyone worships differently. However, I would encourage you to turn on your worship playlist when no one else is around and simply praise God for being God. Lift your hands and lift your voice. If you feel like dancing, then dance! Praise God and use everything He has given you to worship Him. Tap your feet and be free to worship and let your heart cry out to the Lord without fear of hitting the person in the chair next to you at church. You do not need some big band or a building to worship and celebrate what Christ did for us at the cross. 

7) Speaking of worship… I used to be an artsy person as a kid and somewhere along the line, I stopped painting. I do not paint as offten as I would like, but I do use the super hip “adult” coloring books 😛 I draw to, but thats not the point. Get creative, it doen’t even have to be “art”. Maybe croche or knit or sew. For men maybe weld something or build a chair. I don’t know but whatever it is, turn up the worship music, and rather than using these things as either a chore or personal therapy, use it as a way to worship the Lord. This is a good habit to get into as worship should seep into everything we do in our lives. Taking this time to purpose in you hear to focus on Christ while doing these things is a good way to make that happen. Because, afterall, practice makes permanent. 

8) Be still. This is by far one of the hardest things for me to do. I always feel that if I am not doing something, then that makes me lazy. That is not the case. I not mean “be still” as in “take a load off, rest a while, what tv or read a book”. No. Being still. This means taking time to turn off your phone, tv, get away from people, and turn off even your music. Sit or lay down ( don’t fall asleep) somewhere and simply count your blessings. Enjoy and find rest in the silence. Be okay with not having something constantly there to tell you what to be thinking about or having out heads filled with noise. Take time in your morning to sit looking out the window, in the field, or simply at your kitchen table and drink a cup of coffee. There’s more to the verse that tells us this. It says to “be still and know”. Know what? That He is God. Be still and know that the Lord is in control of the world’s situation and He knows what is happening here and in your heart. 

So, here are 8 different things you can do to either be more intentional in how you spend time with the Lord or others. All in all, the main theme here is to be intetntional with he time we are given. Don’t waste it all on cleaning dishes and playing board games. While all of it can be fun and beneficial we cannot allow it to distract us from hearing God’s voice among the chaos. Being intentional in our time spent with Jesus will or should  spill out and we will then be able to love those around us more deeply and fully. We will being ders of the word and not just hearers. We will know better how to meet each others needs and be aware of how to better love those in our circles. 

I sincerely hope that you are able to try to put at least some of these into practice. They can be life changing if you allow them to. If you do decide to try any of them or have more thoughts please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and share it with me!

With all the love in the world, B.