Letter to a Friend.
I had a wonderful email from a Facebook friend this morning. As I wrote her a response I thought that I would share it with my blog too. I know when I have had a friend make a change, whether it be leave FB, or put their kids in a different school, or homeschool, or maybe change a church, it is always food for thought for me to reevaluate where I am. I think that is a good thing, but sometimes I come away from that experience feeling like maybe I am less spiritual if I choose something they don't choose. I don't think my friend felt that way but the last thing I want anyone to think is that I think it is better to not be on FB. I don't think that. I love so much about FB, I miss it...ALOT. This is really why I am off FB and Social Networking -
"...I am glad you are still on FB, I know God uses voices of light through social networking. I am missing being on it, but the quietness of my mind is such a blessing. I had signed up for a program called "Growing Deeper" at Lipscomb University. It is a 9 month, or maybe a year, program that has guided readings and I will have a mentor, then will travel to Lipscomb twice for residencies that include silent retreats and some guided study. I am so excited about the experience, it was definitely a God thing and his leading was apparent. Throughout my time at home I have some books I need to read and I am supposed to be following a devotional/prayer/study time each morning. I found myself in the midst of my study and wanting to check FB, every morning. Do I check FB first? or do I do my study first? Some mornings my time was short and I didn't get to my study - but I checked FB. I felt like God wasn't necessarily calling me to leave FB as much as He was presenting Himself to me in such a sweet way and I was distracted in another area.
This special time of the Growing Deeper Program I have ahead of me has been something I never thought I would be able to afford or take time from my schedule to do. But God has made both possible. I was not going to miss one minute of Him in the process and my distraction of FB was getting in the way of that. I would hate to look back at the end of this process and feel like I missed out on something, and even though FB in and of itself is only a thing, for me it was distracting.
I wouldn't ever want anyone to feel like it is not a good thing, like you said it is how one uses FB. In this next year I have some roses to smell and grass to run my feet through with God and I wanted my heart to be all in it.
I feel like I have stepped off the edge of the world and am living a more solitary way right now. Before I hit the disconnect button on FB God spoke to my heart and said that He was in this time of quiet and I would survive. I miss the fellowship, but God has been faithful and His presence is abounding in the quiet. I am enjoying His voice and words in a way I haven't since FB started for me".
Tammy
"...I am glad you are still on FB, I know God uses voices of light through social networking. I am missing being on it, but the quietness of my mind is such a blessing. I had signed up for a program called "Growing Deeper" at Lipscomb University. It is a 9 month, or maybe a year, program that has guided readings and I will have a mentor, then will travel to Lipscomb twice for residencies that include silent retreats and some guided study. I am so excited about the experience, it was definitely a God thing and his leading was apparent. Throughout my time at home I have some books I need to read and I am supposed to be following a devotional/prayer/study time each morning. I found myself in the midst of my study and wanting to check FB, every morning. Do I check FB first? or do I do my study first? Some mornings my time was short and I didn't get to my study - but I checked FB. I felt like God wasn't necessarily calling me to leave FB as much as He was presenting Himself to me in such a sweet way and I was distracted in another area.
This special time of the Growing Deeper Program I have ahead of me has been something I never thought I would be able to afford or take time from my schedule to do. But God has made both possible. I was not going to miss one minute of Him in the process and my distraction of FB was getting in the way of that. I would hate to look back at the end of this process and feel like I missed out on something, and even though FB in and of itself is only a thing, for me it was distracting.
I wouldn't ever want anyone to feel like it is not a good thing, like you said it is how one uses FB. In this next year I have some roses to smell and grass to run my feet through with God and I wanted my heart to be all in it.
I feel like I have stepped off the edge of the world and am living a more solitary way right now. Before I hit the disconnect button on FB God spoke to my heart and said that He was in this time of quiet and I would survive. I miss the fellowship, but God has been faithful and His presence is abounding in the quiet. I am enjoying His voice and words in a way I haven't since FB started for me".
Tammy
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