The Social Media Experiment

Close all social media for one week. Yes…completely shut it down. You can go to settings, screen time, turn on app limits, and set all social media apps for 0 hours and 0 minutes.  You won’t be able to access those apps when you mindlessly pick up your phone to check social media.  

Go without social media of any kind for one week.  Take notice of how often you pick up your phone to check Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.  

Every time you pick up your phone to check social media (and can’t), use that time to open your Bible and read. If you don’t already have a Bible reading system, I encourage you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and see how Jesus spent his time.  

During this week, I encourage you to engage with people around you.  Get involved in church ministry—with the worship team, the children or youth ministries, ask if you can help with an intensive cleaning of the nursery. Find any other ministry—and volunteer.  Offer to babysit for a neighbor.  Cook a meal for an overworked mom or a senior adult who may not cook for themselves. Do ministry!

After a week, only open your social media apps for 30 minutes for two days.  Record how you feel after checking social media.  

Now consider limiting your intake of social media completely…and engage with the world around you instead.

I’d love to hear your results!

I am not enough

I will never be enough. I won’t be enough as a wife. I won’t be enough as a mother. I won’t be enough as a mother-in-law. I won’t be enough as a grandmother or great-grandmother. I won’t be enough as a daughter or sister. I won’t be enough as a friend. I won’t be enough as a pastor’s wife. I won’t be enough as a counselor. I won’t be enough as an organizer. I won’t be enough as a teacher. I won’t be enough as an employee. I won’t be enough as a mentor. I won’t be enough as a money manager. I won’t be enough as a prayer warrior. I won’t visit hospitals enough. I won’t visit shut-ins enough. I won’t invite you to my home enough. I won’t plan enough parties. I won’t help enough. I just won’t. I want to…oh how I want to!! And how I’ve tried. But I won’t.  

But I wasn’t meant to be.  If I was enough, it would all depend on me. There’s only one who is enough. Jesus is enough. 

JESUS IS ENOUGH.  I am not. 

There’s freedom in understanding that.  And there’s grace to extend to you.  

Hillary the Donkey & Submission

My cousin, Shawn, posted this video this morning of his donkey, Hillary, halter breaking a new colt.  They’d been tied together for 1.5 hours and the colt was already learning submission! Hillary was a good teacher.  

I wish I could learn the same thing that quickly!  Interestingly, I was reading Ephesians 5:21-22 this morning. It says, “Submitting to one another in the fear of God. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” And then God sent the visual of Hillary to make sure I understood what He was saying.  

I’ve had a resistant heart (opposite of submissive) most of my life. It’s been so hard for me to learn submission.  But as I read Ephesians this time, God began showing me the better way. He intended for His kids to work together—to be in unity. But as long as everyone wants to be the 5-Star General, it WON’T work! And if I never learn to submit to my husband, I’ll never submit to God. Just like if I don’t teach my young children to obey me, they’ll have a hard time obeying God.  

God is the Head and everyone is to submit to him. And if everyone learns to submit to Him and one another, we’ll move forward like a well-oiled machine—God’s army. In fact, the word submit infers submitting to a military command or putting yourself under someone’s authority.  

Surely I can get this down if a colt can!  Good job, Hillary.