What if you find yourself stuck? Your thoughts are unsettling, and it’s difficult to pinpoint the cause. You would like to release your burdens to the Lord, but you need more clarity to know what those burdens are, to understand the exact nature of what’s troubling you.
I have stumbled onto a tool that has been very helpful when I get stuck. I have named this tool my Counseling Sessions with God, and here’s why. As a pastoral counselor for the past thirty-five years, I have a lot of experience with how counseling sessions flow. The client comes in, shares his/or her presenting issue, talks for a while, then expects the counselor to reflect back on what was said and offer clarity regarding the issues that were laid out.
With this pattern in mind, I idle down in my Divine Counselor’s office, under a tree, beside a rock, in my office, anywhere in the universe will do since He owns it all. But before I can remotely hope to hear from God, I have to silence the tech-pecked voices from every digital portal, and that is no easy feat. Before all of the research that precipitated the passion to write this book, FOMO compelled me to rivet my face to my tech connections. Opening my computer to check my email invited me to view the latest news. While I was there, an ad would show up for the magic potion lotion that was going to melt off my body fat with only three easy payments. They even took PayPal! With my computer opened, I might as well see how my one thousand friends were doing on Facebook, and if my phone buzzed, any hope of pensive deep thought was quickly terminated. Please understand that my husband and I pastor a church of over a thousand people. That is a lot of people in need. But if I allow my schedule to be dictated by constant digital overload, I will have no time with God to fill my tank to help with their needs. Not picking up the phone is a sacrifice, but it is well worth it to preserve my own sanity and to give me time with God to better equip me for action when I do make contact. I learned that the hard way.
With my digital devices disconnected, I pick up pen and paper (I know, so old school, right?), and I write out what is consuming my thoughts. My mind can run a thousand miles a minute, but as I simmer down, I can get in touch with the deeper layers of what I’m thinking and feeling. If I am seriously troubled, I simply start with what I am feeling right now in this moment, just as a client would do in my office. Writing is better than talking because it slows me down and fine-tunes my focus. As I write, I ask the Lord to speak into my life.
I write until the issue crystallizes. Sometimes that happens in a few lines. Other times it takes a few pages. But I find as I slow down enough to write, I can better hear the Lord’s “gentle whisper.”
From Tech-Pecked or Tuned In: Finding God in an Anxious World.