Last week was the first week I’ve chosen to take off of social media, and I count it a pure privilege to do so.
I jotted down the thoughts I wanted to post and tweet and even snapped a few photos I withheld from posting on Instagram. Apology for all the randomness:
Dear Necessity, I’m tired of you being my mama. But I’m thankful for all the inventiveness. –Margaret
I’m so in love with this rug from Costco. I bought a second for upstairs. When close friends come over, I make them sit on the soft rug with me. It’s dreamy.
Is anyone else experiencing Bunnyvasion 2014? Those little hoppers are everywhere. How are you handling the bunny, bunny everywhere? #help
I’m reading a book on the science of laughter. I’m still fighting back with joy.
My Compassion child draws round houses. She’s from Kenya. Her school and church are square, but her house is round. #awesomeness
In the not-so-wee-hours of the morning, I’ve been rereading GodStories by Stephen Shoemaker and allowing the beauty of Biblical narrative to flood my soul.
And in the quietness, I hear two sacred echoes that have reverberated for some time:
“Let them carry you” and “I will sustain you”.
Throughout the past year, I’ve heard God’s echo “Let them carry you” many times. The image I have is the of the friends of the paralyzed man who lowered him through the roof (Luke 5:19). Your prayers, notes, gift cards, and donations have carried us through this difficult year of treatment. Every purchase you’ve made directly through our website has made such a difference in paying down medical bills and staying afloat.
Sometimes it’s hard to let people carry you. Yet I’ve experienced the warmth, the closeness, the teary eyes of gratitude, the gasp of holy awe, the great joy of knowing you are fighting with me and for me.
I’m so thankful for you. Words fail to express my abounding gratitude.
Yet the command “Let them carry you” continues. Just like after a hurricane, the massive cleanup takes time. The full healing and restoration for my body, emotions, mind and heart won’t happen overnight. Each day I’m getting stronger… and much of that strength comes from not just accepting but learning to enjoy being carried.
The second echo I’ve been hearing from God is, “I will sustain you.”
In the midst of so much uncertainty and so many new challenges, doubt and fear keep slithering in. Yet I’ve been sensing God say again and again, “I will sustain you.”
Rather than cling to Scripture, I feel like I’ve been white-knuckling it. In particular, Isaiah 46:4:
“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
The word “sustain” can also be translated “to carry” or “to bear” (Hebrew: cabal) as in a heavy burden. What I didn’t realize until the silence of this week is how the two echoes are connected. In essence, what I sense God has been saying is,
“Let them carry you” and “I will carry you”.
In other words: Me and My people, we got you. We got you.
So today, I’m fighting back with joy by choosing to trust again.
[Tweet “”I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” -Isaiah 46:4”]
*This week’s memory verse: Mark 10:29-30
Gather. As we gather for the Summer Bible Study, let’s discuss this question (click here to leave your answer as a comment):
What echoes have you been hearing from God? What prevents you from fully surrendering to God?
*Join us right back here at MargaretFeinberg.com on Monday to begin our final week. You won’t want to miss it.
Although I was a little anxious to remove myself from all social media for a week, it only took me minutes to begin to enjoy the solitude that accompanied no wifi/email/facebook etc… Not only the solitude, but the calm. Being a “people pleaser” who is involved in way more than she needs to be, I feel the constant “pressure” to answer emails, respond to posts, stay current with on-line studies and book launch teams etc… A week to focus on God and family…WOW! (Hee hee…can we start again tomorrow?)
Besides my Bible reading early each morning with the Lord, during the course of the week I read three books on the heels of a fourth. God spoke the exact same four words to me through the pages of each of the books. RISK. RADICAL. RELEASE. REACH. God is calling me to risk everything for Him. He wants a radical obedience. The Lord desires I release anything that is holding me from following Him completely. Woven between these words was all a call to reach the nations.
Although other things in the past have held me at an incomplete surrender, not this time. God wants it all, whatever that will mean. Kneeling before Him, it was not a flippant letting go. There is a cost to following the Lord. My prayer of surrender was accompanied by many tears. Yet, He is a good Father who desires to give good gifts to His children so I need not fear what my “Africa” might be, as God will only bring what is for my good and for His glory.
I cannot thank you enough for sharing this idea and for God prompting my heart to respond. The time was a gift in so many ways and I’m not the same as I was a week ago Monday. Thank You Lord.
Humbly His,
Joy
So thrilled the week logged off was a blessing to you, Joy! I think I need to carve in that space away every few weeks.
Over this past week a heavy burden lifted from me!! I had lost my home, my solace where Jesus walked, where every October afternoon about 4 pm a sign of a fish glowed in the same ceiling spot for about 30 minutes or so, I could never figure out how that appeared! I left my home devastated, taken away from me in foreclosure, This last few days the heart ache I felt from many things lifted from me! He sustained me, carried me through!
read, journaled, sat in quiet awe observed the birds, the sky – early morning walk, at one point I surrendered it all yesterday, a breakthrough – a peace filled me
I felt tons lighter!
May the God of hope and peace continue to fill you with more and more of him!
I had purchased that home in the month of October. When I left it 3 years ago, the ache continured.
this past Week 3 became an echo
as I journaled it’s significant all through my life as I wrote blessings.
It takes 3 years after a foreclosure to
purchase again! Yep, I’m already preparing. It’s not just the home
it’s not a building that mattered, it was for me to see footprints in my life, and who carried me since I was a small child!! I’m not a social media buff, but this Bible study and You Margaret also sustained me when I really felt defeated! Thank you !!
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