Our Monday Devotion comes to us from Member, Gabby Botts:
"I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!" Psalm 139:7
I feel compelled to write about the "dry seasons" that one will undoubtedly experience in life from time to time in the Christian walk. If anyone tries to seem "holier than thou" or whatnot and tell you that there aren’t such things as dry spells, and spout off some verse about how God is always with you (which is true by the way, but let me go on), they’re lying. I’m here to tell you there will be times when you don’t feel anything. There will be days, maybe weeks, months, etc, when you have doubts, when you just feel so dried up, and like God is busy with other things, other people, etc. Maybe you feel like you can’t be used. Maybe you’ll get so exasperated you feel like you’ve lost your beliefs. It’s okay.
I want to wrap you in my arms and tell you that this is normal, and very okay. Do not hate yourself for feeling this way. Because, faith is not synonymous with belief.
Faith is not a blind acceptance. In the midst of these dark times, faith is reminding yourself what you know to be true and believe when you are level headed and at your best (paraphrased from C.S. Lewis). Faith can be associated with a goal. You have to trust that even stagnation is okay for awhile as long as you aren’t giving up completely or abandoning your goal of growing closer to Jesus.
The kicker is this: you are feeling empty, right? Or alone? Yes, this is proof that God is out there. The absence of your connection is proof that it has been there before, and that He does exist. You are missing Him. To quote Isaac Deitz, who I am proud to call a friend, “It’s like a car doesn’t struggle or feel out of place when it has gas, but it knows that the gas is tangible when it’s on empty.” I find great hope in this, and I hope you will too. You can make it through this dry spell, and when you come out on the other end, you will be so much closer and have that much of a greater appreciation for your relationship with God. I promise.
Love you guys.
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Aww....great message, Gabby! Those dry seasons are definitely a challenge to get through when all we want is to feel the very arms of God wrapped around us, but you're absolutely right about everything - He's still there and He's still here. Thanks for the reminder and great message.
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