womens ministry

Feeling Empty

No one really likes Empty. No one wants Empty. Definitely, no one wants to Feel Empty.

Empty promises. Empty bank account. Empty fridge. Empty nest. Empty headed. Empty bucket. Running on Empty. Empty words. Empty wine glass. *gasp!!

All of it denotes having less , feeling less, being less and in our culture less is never positive.

I want Full instead! Full sounds fun! Full feels better. Full means I’m not lacking for anything.

Full belly. Full schedule. Full life. Full on. Full of laughter. Full assurance.

If fullness is the goal then why does it so often leave us feeling empty?

I heard a pastor on the radio today saying that ‘if your mind is always full of your own ideas you will never have the mind of Christ.’ And there it is. There’s our answer. We are full, but of the wrong things. I am full of the wrong things.

I have agendas and deadlines. I have goals to attain, new skills to learn, and accomplishments to reach. I want to meet people and go places. I want to be known. I want to make my mark. Leave my legacy. Don’t we all??

None of these things I desire is inherently bad unless you notice the common theme. I , I, I, me, me ,me…….I’m full….. Of Me. So many times the things I’m loading up on are meant to Fill the void. Fill the loneliness. Fill the Time. Fill the Silence. I stuff my time and my life and my thoughts so completely there’s no room for anything new.

Sometimes I don’t leave room for Jesus.

God wants to pour himself into me. More than rivulets into the narrow gaps He wants to flood into my Whole heart. He can give me more fulfillment than any worldly goal or possession I might chase.Emptying my heart of loving anything that takes Christs’ place makes no sense to the world. But the funny thing about Jesus is he rarely made sense to his disciples either. When the disciples argued among themselves about which of them was the greatest; Christ told them that ‘it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.’ Luke 9:48

Say what? He was basically saying ‘Hey! Stop filling yourself with yourself and instead be emptied out for others and full of me! The kind of status you’re looking for lacks substance and will never keep you satiated. If you make room for what I offer you will never thirst again. Never be hungry again. Never strive again. Make . Room. For . Me.”

Jesus desperately wants to give us the best gift we could ever receive. But you can only grab onto it if you let go and reach for it with empty hands. For me it’s a daily intentional choice between staying full of what I want vs. what God wants. While it’s sometimes a struggle to get there, empty doesn’t scare me like it used to. Now, I crave it knowing God’s plans for me far exceed anything I’ve ever concocted myself!

This Easter, I ask you to try something that might be new and scary. Close your eyes and take a deep breath- then release something that you’ve been clutching tightly with both hands.(not your phone. Put your phone down before attempting this) 🙂 Ask God to empty you of it so you can take in whatever He has for you.

Trust me when I tell you that being receptive and empty for God will fill you with more peace than you could imagine. After all, He gave us an empty tomb and nothing has ever filled the world as much as that.

Getting to God: 3 Tips on Prayer

Have you ever felt like you just weren’t hearing from God? Or that your prayers were words uttered in an empty room and instead of them floating up to heavenly ears they crashed to the floor?

No? ……Just me?

Recently, a dear friend shared with me that she didn’t know ‘how’ to pray. My well thought out and deeply theological response was,

“Just talk to Him.”

Friend: “Yeah, but How? I just don’t get what I’m supposed to do“

I think this is a very common question. I mean, if we’re going to take the time to pray to the God of all Creation we want to do it right! Right? But here’s a truth that should take away some performance anxiety for you-there is no perfect way to pray. Prayer and how it’s done is as unique as the person praying it. That being said, there are a few guidelines I discovered from reading about what men and women of the Bible did. Incorporating these 3 simple ideas that I’m about to share with you helped build my prayer life.

  1. Get Away

A prayer closet, bathroom, garage, car, pantry, treehouse…..it doesn’t matter where as long as it works for you. When my kids were small Jesus and I hung out in the bathroom a lot! Even if it was only 1 minute 10 times a day and those prayers were just for patience and sanity, God obviously met me there because we all survived the toddler years. Seriously, if you need to go hang out in the laundry room to be with God , I promise He’ll meet you there. When He does, ask Him how to get formula stains out, would you? I was never able to do it so I’m pretty sure it takes divine intervention.

2. Get Quiet

You might think that this belongs in the last suggestion. But getting away and getting quiet are two different things. Sometimes we spend all of our prayer time talking to God and we never pause to listen. It’s easy to want to tell God about everything that’s worrying us, everyone that needs help, every future fear, and every need. Don’t get me wrong- He wants to hear it!There’s nothing too insignificant for us to share with our Father. Phillipians 4:6 says , “Do not worry about anything; instead pray about EVERYTHING. Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done.” Heck, I’ve prayed for a good parking space before when I had a horribly sprained ankle and I’m quite sure it was no coincidence I got one!

However, equally important, or even more so ,than God hearing us is the importance of US hearing Him. The Holy Spirit is a ‘still small voice’. We need to become comfortable in the silence of prayer. Those times we just close our eyes and ask God ‘what do you need me to hear today, Lord?’ can be some of the most peace bringing and powerful meetings. And again, even if at this time of your life you can only get 2 minutes of quiet- that’s ok! God can speak as fast as He needs to.

3. Get Real

I used to feel so intimidated at church when I’d hear people come out with these Uber spiritual and eloquent prayers. I’d go home and try out their brand of prayer speech and think, ‘who IS this person?!’ . God doesn’t want us to try to sound like anyone else. He’s not looking for poems or your best Billy Graham imitation. He doesn’t care about our grammar or our delivery or our vocabulary. He Knows what you sound like! Don’t worry if you forget what you were going to say mid sentence (this is why I pray out loud. I’m too ADD to stay in my head. It’s busy in there.) Tell Him you’re angry about what’s happening. Tell Him you Do. Not. Appreciate. what ever lesson He’s teaching you and that you’d like Him to find another way thankyouverymuch. Yell at Him if you need to. If you don’t know what to pray- tell Him that. He already knows how you feel in your heart any way so there’s no point in pretending it’s ‘fine’. Wearing a mask of ‘I’m fine’ with God only keeps Him at arms length. Be honest ; be real; be raw. God’s just waiting to turn arm’s length into an embrace.

I hope this helps anyone struggling with their prayer life. If it did , let me know! And if you have something that’s been beneficial to your own prayer life- please share with me!

[Funny side note; when I was writing this and said we don’t have to be poets, this popped into my head. I think my last haiku was in seventh grade. LOL!!]

A Haiku on Prayer

Open wide your heart

Lift your eyes to Heaven

You are the Poem