Faith and Creativity: Have You Reached a Breaking Point in your Faith Where you MUST have Answers?

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Day 2

One day stands out in particular as the absolute breaking point for this type of empty living:  my daughter’s third birthday.  My husband was deployed to Kuwait with the Navy so communication between the two of us was incredibly sporadic.  During the first three months he was away we talked on the telephone one time and I received about 1 email a week.  My daughter has had breathing issues since birth and this day she was having a hard time with her illness.  My car had a flat.  The weather was dreary and overcast.  One by one the guests of the birthday party were cancelling due to sickness and inclement weather.  I had spent way too much money for a party I was not even interested in throwing.  I FELT ALL ALONE.

 The party happened.  I made my way home feeling unheard by GOD but desperate because there was nowhere else to turn.  I put my daughter to bed.  I went in the living room, turned out all the lights and laid on the floor… and cried and KEPT CRYING.  And I remember pleading, begging toward the ceiling with words something like, “GOD I can’t take this.  You have got to do something in my life.  I am alone and feel desperate for something ANYTHING TO DO to feel that my identity is valuable to you.  I have nowhere else to go LORD.  

 "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

 -John 6:68

So, I prayed the prayer that night and I went to bed with that feeling of being heard but with no real idea what was coming next.

 Time to Ponder...

Spiritual:

1.                  Has there been a time in your life where change was occurring in a way that was unexpected?  Are you in a place right now where change is inevitable/unavoidable?  What does change look like to you?  What area of your life SPECIFICALLY do you need change to happen?

 

2.                  Look at the following verses to see other examples of “suddenly” moments and write down what you find.  Is there any particular one that speaks SPECIFICALLY to this point in time in your life?

Genesis 37:7

Number 16:42

Judges 14:5

2 Kings 2:11

Job 1:19

Proverb 28:18

 Isaiah 48:3

Daniel 5:5

 Acts 2:2

 Acts 9:3

Creative: 

1.                  Do you currently have a creative outlet that you allow yourself to use as a time for worship?  What has that activity done for you personally and in your life’s circumstances?  How much time are you able to devote time to this?

2.                   Have you considered trying a new artistic medium? If so, what things do you need to do to begin exploring this?  What roadblocks are in the way? 

 3.                  Describe the last time you let yourself “Play”. How can you make space for more of that time in your life?

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