Sometimes being a YES GIRL means saying NO

created by P31 OBS Small Group Leader Stephanie Solberg

Today is day one of the online Bible study through Proverbs 31 Ministries, "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God" based on the book by Lysa Terkeurst. It is very exciting to be a part of this study with over 22,000 other women from 120 different countries! I am so curious with anticipation about what God is going to do over the next 6 weeks through this study.

This week is about "A Soul that Longs for More." Along with the above Bible verse which includes the line, "Love the Lord with all your Soul", I'm asking myself the question, "What does it mean for a soul to long for more? What does it mean to love the Lord with all your Soul?"

I do long for more, but more of what? Often my desire for more stems from a desire for my circumstances to change. I feel discontent, weary and I long for change. Ultimately, these longings are about me. I want things to be different so that life won't be so hard, or so that I can spend more time doing the things I want to do. But, these longings are focused on secondary things.

This does not sound like a YES GIRL to me!

My true longing, the one underneath those secondary things, the one that God has placed inside of me but that I don't often recognize, is my longing for Him.

I long to know God's presence throughout the day. I long to feel His Spirit directing me. I long to depend on Him and to find my satisfaction in Him rather then through all those secondary things and in even when life isn't the way I want it to be. If I'm honest with myself, I should recognize that life never is what I want it to be!

My prayer is that God would help me long for Him more then I long for other things. Even in this I am dependent on Him to make this a reality in my life.

However, I think there are a few things I can do to come along side Him in this. I can have fewer distractions in my life. I can carve out more time in my day for Him by saying "no" to distractions. I notice that distractions, which for me come in the form of playing games on my ipad, watching shows on Netflix, or spending too much time on facebook, take up a lot of time. If I say NO to these distractions, and instead say YES to God, I might sense His presence more, or feel the Spirit guiding me. When those distractions take up so much of my day, I could easily get to the end of the day without connecting with God at all!

I want to be a YES GIRL. I want my longing for God to be strong. I want a soul that longs for more, but not just "any" more...more of God. I want to love the Lord with all of my soul.

Today, being a YES GIRL means saying NO to distractions. What does it mean for you?