I would fast from social media in the past and the longest I actually done it for was 21 days. I usually couldn't wait for the 22nd day to get back on. The whole time I was fasting I would be thinking about social media which made the fast much more harder to get through.
The only way I could stay off for sure is to deactivate my account, well the ones that I could. When I would delete my accounts, people would be asking about my post "I haven't seen you posting" or "You off social media", honestly I didn't even think people was paying me any attention like that to even notice me being gone. One of my sisters in Christ actually told me that a lot of my post encourages her and if it wasn't for my post she would have never start going to church and we talked further on it (not going to list all the details here), she encouraged me to keep posting. So, this time around I decided to keep my pages open but I am not active on them. I don't know how long I am going to stay off of social media, as this is my alone season with God, to get back on fire for God how I was in the very beginning, to grow in my walk with Christ and to be focused in my lane and my portion without looking to my left or my right and really hearing Gods voice on instructions in my life.
Social media was the biggest distraction in my life, it was really hindering my relationship with God and had become a stumbling block in my Christian walk. So I am writing this blog to fully explain "Why I kissed social media good bye" and why maybe you should consider doing it too. I don't think social media is all bad. I believe it can be glorifying to God in many ways and other positive reasons social media is used for. I am not by all means judging anyone who do have social media. I think you should do whatever the lord is leading you to do.
The lord revealed to me the beginning of December 2018 that it was time for me to leave social media alone for a season or two lol. Social media was becoming a tool Satan was using for my destruction. I was waking up in the morning and my first thought was to roll over, grab my phone, and get on social media and scroll down my news feed. My morning started out with the desire to see what everyone else was doing. I would then spend the rest of my day on social media every chance I had a free moment. When I was bored, while I am in class, standing in line waiting somewhere, and all night at work since I worked midnight, I was scrolling to see everyone else's life. I was spending my outings and vacations with my friend and family thinking of the perfect picture to take and the perfect caption to put with it so the world can see how awesome my life was. I took a million pictures all in the name of trying to get the perfect one, added filters, and the catchiest caption and I waited in anticipation to see how many likes or comments it would get. I was getting my affirmation about myself from likes on social media. On top of that, in my all day of scrolling through everyone's life, I was idolizing married couples, courting couples, their relationship with God, looking at workout pages, how flat they stomach was, anything that had to do with newborns and new mommies, how cute they clothes was, how they meal prep, how awesome they vacations was and all their friends and how perfect their life seemed. I spent more time on what my life looked like online than what my life actually looked like in real world. I was striving for a picture of perfection. My life is far from perfect and the truth of the matter is no one's is, we are all imperfect and fallen.
Also in December of 2018 God revealed two other huge commitments for me and that's when my focus really shifted. I wanted to be obedient to God and do what He has called me to do and I knew social media had to GO. I also got more confident in what He has called me to do and stepped out of my comfort zone and the fear of failing. You don't have to compare your life to anyone else's when you are in your lane and doing what God is telling you to do. My satisfaction comes from Him alone, so cant look at anybody else's life and wish it were mines because I am too busy comparing my life to Christ. The more you focus on what you lack in your kind, the more it will become amplified in your mind.
I honestly do not miss social media, I just feel detached from the world. I would quickly have to tell myself in those moments that I am not missing out on anything and I have to stay focused. I tell myself daily "Do The Work". It was what Satan was using to destroy me. Of course he was going to make it look as appealing and satisfying as possible and make me truly believe that I could not live without it. Here is some great news, we totally can live without it! Social media was my flesh desire, not my soul. My soul desire is for my God and He is what I desire and what fills and satisfy me.
Thankfully God revealed to me social media was a distraction from spending interrupted time with him and being all that He has called me to be and do so I got rid of it. I was spending more time meditating on social media than I was Gods word. Social media was bringing me down more than it was bringing me joy. I would get through a lot of my days and thinking back I spent a whole day and being non productive and more could have been accomplished with my time. I replaced my time on social media doing more purposeful work such as spending lots of more interrupted time with God, reading lots of christian based books related to areas I want to work on to be a better person, being a better student paying attention in class, more time studying, cooking more, going to the gym more, and being intentionally about what ever I was working on because I was not multitasking by being distracted by social media or rushing what I was doing to get back on social media. I am spending more of my precious time being attentive to who was around me, loving them, talking to them and listening to them. I am engaging more with people in public as I am waiting and I have had some pretty interesting conversations with people and I have discovered that its lots of people in the world that like to talk and being engaged. I do not even take as many pictures as I used to and I do not have to worry about coming up with a caption.
Lastly, I am so thankful for this alone season with God. I have gained so much in just this month. I truly do have and live such an amazing life offline, thanks to my sweet Jesus. I have drowned out the noise of others opinion so I can hear my own inner voice. I learned that I do not have to broadcast every high and low in my life I can just live in the moment. I do not have to convince the world that I had a life. I am getting my affirmations from the Lord. I am not wasting my precious valuable time. I am enjoying friends and family. I am never missing a moment or opportunity to share or speak with people. Thankfully, God is faithful to teach me continually.
Do I think you should get rid of social media? I think you should examine your life and ask the Lord what He wants for your life, because it is His to do what He wants with it anyway. Praise God that He wants us. All of us. All of the time. He wants our mind meditating on Him. He wants us to find our contentment and satisfaction in Him. Are we?
Here are a few scriptures: Psalm 37; 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Taking delight in the lord means that our hearts truly find peace and fulfillment in Him. If we truly find satisfaction and worth in Christ, scripture says He will give us the longings of our hearts. The idea behind this verse and others like it is that, when we truly rejoice or delight in the eternal things of God, our desires will begin to parallel His and we will never go unfulfilled. Psalm 1;2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. Psalm 16;11 You will show me the way of life, granting me joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
Love you always,
De'Ana L. Williams
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