When In Want

I have been fasting lately. Although l'm not Catholic, lent was a tradition that I took up in college to practice a spiritual discipline. Despite the fact that I didn't completely "get it" at the time, over the years God has used this to draw me closer to Him.

This year for lent I gave up drinking all beverages except for water. Although I'm not a huge soda drinker, the reality of what that means when really put into practice feels extremely limiting- no coke, no coffee, no tea, no juice, no anything - just pure, clean, water. The idea came from an organization called Blood Water Mission that encourages people to use the money that they would otherwise spend on beverages to provide clean water for families living in Africa. It's also stems as a reminder of how blessed we are to have clean water whenever we want it. Something that we typically overlook.

The sacrifice is hard! I've done this in years past, and every time I hate it. However I've also never felt so close to God as through the ending of this season.

What this spiritual discipline and void of beverages in my life has done, is created a need that leaves me yearning and longing for what I am missing. Far too often it seems that we want for nothing. And although this may be the goal that we all work towards in life, I don't know that being "full" all the time is entirely healthy. If I was never hungry, but always full, I would never need to eat. I would never try new things. I would always stick to what I know. In a sense, without "hunger" we cannot grow.

This truth is the same in my spiritual life. I have found myself yearning and longing for God lately. Seeking Him as I wake up in the morning and desiring to know Him more before I fall asleep at night. I am looking everywhere for Him because I am not content, I am not fulfilled, something is lacking. When there is a need, it sends me seeking.

And when something is found that has been missing in my life, it tastes so much sweeter than it ever did before. I have found it. I am not lacking anymore. What may have once been "normal" is impossible not to see now as a blessing from God.

I have found this to be true in every area of my life. Whether simply a longing or a desire, to real, tangible needs. When gone without, even a cup of coffee goes from just one of many daily, to something that is a gift and savored and enjoyed.

Upon returning from Kenya, I found the same thankfulness and appreciation in the rushing clean water from an airport water fountain after seeing women spend hours upon hours a day seeking what we almost entirely neglect, and only have to push a button to receive.

I have experienced this through spiritually dry times in my life that have felt like a trip through a desert wasteland. Only to be renewed by days filled with laughter and beating hearts, never to be taken for granted again.

It seems that without seasons of dryness or destitute in our lives, we would never hear the birds chirping or see the springs that are pouring out all around us. If they had always been there, we would never realize what a gift they truly are.

If you are finding yourself in a place of lacking... seek, seek, seek, what you are looking for. Through those seasons of drought, find some way to thank God that because you are seeking, you have a need for Him.

And when those prayers are answered, when what is lost is found, may you see what is before you as ten times more valuable than you ever did before. And may you know that this was an opportunity not for God to withhold from you, but rather to personally show you His beauty that is all around.