Practice: Silence and Solitude

(This article is from a video series called "End of Summer Reset" which is still available on Facebook. You can join the group to see all videos here: link.)

Are you longing for more in your relationship with God but just feel stuck? Do you wish you had some direction for how to pursue intimacy with God in a way that was sustainable and not just a flash-in-the-pan? I'm going to lead us through some spiritual practices that Christians have followed throughout the ages and give you some scripture to read to go along with each practice.

Our first practice is going to be Silence and Solitude. I know this can sound a little scary at first but if you haven't tried incorporating this into your devotional life yet, you need to give it a try!

Let's start by sitting down without distractions and ask yourself "what do I truly need from God right now?" What are you longing for? What's the cry of your heart? Rest? Tenderness? Peace? Excitement? Change? Energy? Filling?

1. Write down a one-sentance prayer out of this. We'll call it your breath prayer because you can say it in one breath.

2. Then get a timer and set it for 10 minutes.

3. Physically relax your body and get comfortable. You may take some deep slowing breaths. You can choose to put your hands palm up in your lap if you want to. Focus on relaxing the tension in your body.

4. Say your breath prayer.

5. Let yourself sit with that prayer and with God for the rest of the time on your timer. When your mind wanders you can repeat your prayer and come back to the focus: a time of silence (even silence with your racing thoughts!)

6. It helps me to imagine myself sitting with God. So either I picture us sitting together on a bench in a garden and my head is on his shoulder, or I imagine us taking a walk hand-in-hand. You can get as creative as you want to!

7. At the end of the 10 minutes close by praying and asking God to speak to you as you read his word.

Scripture reading: Psalm 84

This is a practice that helps you quiet your mind, heart, and body, to be more in tune with the Spirit as you sit down to spend time with God. You might find that you enjoy this time just "being" with God in his presence without even having to speak.

Try to do this every day for a week before you come to your Bible reading. See if it's a practice that helps you draw closer to God and if it really resonates with you consider adding it to your devotional time on a regular basis.

Insecure to Sure: The Masks We Wear

Hi there!

So over the past 2 weeks we’ve been talking about insecurities and anxieties that hit us and cause us to feel “off.” Maybe you feel these things so often that it has started to feel normal for you but the exhaustion it’s caused feels like a heavy backpack you can’t put down. 

If you would rather watch this message you can click below or just read on!

Still dealing with insecurity that strikes at the worst times? Want to get to the bottom of it and have some freedom? In this second week we're going to identify some of the masks that we wear that contribute to our insecurities that lead to anxiety.

I've learned that what's really going on when we get hit with insecurity is that the masks that we've worn to present ourselves to the world are getting challenged. Or maybe we even feel like we don’t know what mask to wear. 

Our new boss has no idea how hard we've worked in the past, or what our gpa was. The new guy we're going out on a date with can't see the soul behind the pretty eye makeup and the perfectly planned casual-i-don’t-care jeans look. The new people at the new church have no history to know what a great friend you are and how many things you’re into. 

We don't have our well-formed image to prove to the world that we're worth it. The “me” we're so used to people recognizing. We think it serves us well and we feel the discomfort when we don't have it. The problem is that the image, the persona, the mask, doesn’t actually serve us at all even in our long-standing relationships. If the world falls in love with the well-crafted version of ourself then they really don't love us at all because true love loves the whole person, every part, the beautiful and the broken parts. 

You might say at this point, Lauren I don’t even know what my masks are. Actually I just feel no confidence. I feel like I don’t have anything to make me special or a standout. In this case, maybe you wish you could wear a mask of success, beauty or confidence but instead you wear a mask of “voicelessness” or “invisibleness.” Try to identify what the masks are for you and name them.

So what does God want us to do? We need to start by identifying the masks that we're wearing (or that we want to wear). The things we use to cover our nakedness and vulnerability. This can be a hard task and something that happens in stages throughout different seasons. We can start with listing our "titles" or the things we use to identify ourselves. Student, profession, friend, daughter, wife, mom, artist, outdoorsy girl, you fill in the blanks. We have to set aside our roles and ask who we really are without those things. God never meant for our identity to be found in our ever-changing roles and interests. 

1 Peter 3:3-4 says: Don’t let your adornment be merely outward. Are you using your roles as an “outward adornment” to identify yourself to the world? If so, the moment those roles are challenged, or if we feel like people don’t know about our roles, we start to feel that old insecurity creeping up coming along with it’s best friends, fear and anxiety. Can we sit with God, lay down all of those roles, presenting ourselves in that vulnerable place and receive his love? 

Make sure to watch the video and download your free worksheet to help guide you through reflecting on these truths for yourself. Here’s the link to download! https://mailchi.mp/laurenlane/insecuretosurew2

Insecure to Sure: Where do Insecurities Come From?

Download your free PDF to go with this post!: https://mailchi.mp/laurenlane/insecuretosurew1

Where do our insecurities come from? Even the most confident women can suddenly get hit with insecurities that lead to anxiety and sadness that no one else may even notice. I've totally experienced this during certain times in my life. I'm not a person who typically struggles with anxiety on a consistent basis but I have had seasons where anxiety has become like that jean jacket I wear with every outfit. When I've stopped to consider where it's coming from, every time I realize it's about insecurity in my heart and mind. There have been different things that brought it on, but there is always a root that is causing it.

Some people just stop right there and never dig down to the root of those insecurities. I get that. It can be terrifying to acknowledge some of the most vulnerable places of our heart and the wounds of the past. God knows this and he is patient with us on the journey. Most of the time we need to face things in increments- tiny steps of realization brought to our awareness by the Holy Spirit. I have come to be grateful for those moments of anxiety though because it's like an alert to me that God is ready to bring something to the surface that isn't serving me well. It's soooo uncomfortable, but so worth it. 

New jobs, first dates, new schools, going to a new church, these are just a few things that can push us off balance and shake us up. Suddenly that old sense of self gets challenged and we wonder why we feel so insecure. 

I think Moses was feeling this same plague of insecurity when he begged God in Exodus 3 and 4 to send someone else to rescue the Israelites. It wasn’t enough for him that God had chosen and called him and then given him explicit instructions and crazy signs. Moses was like, “choose someone else!!” Why? Because he had already experienced the fear and anxiety that comes from stepping out when he had tried to resolve the conflict between the Hebrew slave and the Egyptian. He probably thought, “look where that got me.” He had had enough! He was dealing with fear about standing out again and potentially failing.

I think women today can all relate! There’s books flying off the shelves and speakers skyrocketing to popularity all because they are telling women that they don’t have to let their fears and anxieties hold them back! Women in our generation are dealing hardcore with their fears and anxieties and they’re realizing that these things are preventing them from taking steps of faith and obedience. It can be in a work setting, in a relationship, in a new friendship, or almost anything else in our lives.

The thing is that as Christian women we can be tempted to call this fear and anxiety something else: humility. We end up being ruled by insecurities and anxieties that stop us from taking risks and then labeling it something spiritual. 

So for this first week I want you to think about the times that you’ve felt the most insecure over the past 6 months or so. What was it about each situation that triggered that insecurity or anxiety? What feelings was that situation bringing up for you? Then I want you to take a step back and ask God how he felt about that situation- what would he have said to you right there?

Download your free PDF to go with this post!: https://mailchi.mp/laurenlane/insecuretosurew1