A Magnolia's Heart Beats

Spiritually Dry - At the Well Mondays

Heather is our hostess today At the Well. The topic she has chosen is Spiritually Dry. I encourage you to visit her blog at Emotional Purity and see what she and then the other ladies At the Well had to say on this topic.

Heather asks:

* Have you noticed a pattern of when you find yourself spiritually dry?

* What do you do to move quickly through that season of dryness?

Spiritual dryness can occur for many reasons, but it is always our fault when it happens. We seem to move away from God, giving Him time perhaps on Sundays, maybe even Wednesdays, but the rest of the time is filled with the things we desire. Busyness, unconfessed sin, not seeking God during times of heartache and sadness, these things can lead to spiritual dryness.

I have experienced being spiritually dry, and didn't even recognize it at the time. Oh, I wasn't living a "bad" life, just a busy one and one that didn't include prayer, praise and worship outside the corporate times of church. I'd get filled up on Sunday and fizzle on Monday. The rest of my week was busy busy busy! Unless I paused for prayer meeting on Wednesday night.

It wasn't until I made a commitment to seek God in prayer daily over a certain matter that I got doused with the Living Water again. Oh, it felt so good! During those times I picked up a Bible and started reading it before and after prayer time. Then I added a devotional to the mix. Quiet time. Sweet, solitary, sanctifying, soul-bearing, soaking up God quiet time.

Heather wrote, "I have a saying, framed and hanging in my dining room, it reads: Make time for quiet moments, as God whispers and the world is loud." I love that quote. It's so true.

If you make time for God, you will hear His voice whispering to you, even throughout the day. You have to practice listening for it, be in constant prayer and avoid falling into the pit of busyness and whatever made you spiritually dry in the first place. I am living proof this works.

"He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." ~ Jeremiah 17:8

When we keep God first in our lives, praising Him, worshiping Him, reading His Word and praying constantly, we can be like that tree mentioned above, for when we hit times of dryness we will still bear fruit for Him.

Sometimes being spiritually dry can come on the heels of a devastation in our lives. For me, it came on the heels of miscarriage and spending so much time between the hospital with a loved one and just going home to sleep and back to the hospital again, that I didn't have time to nourish myself with God except to say, "Oh, God, please help!" I don't know that I'd call that being spiritually dry so much as I would spiritually aching, because I had reserves to draw on.

Let's purpose to keep God on the forefront so that we won't become spiritually dry.

S - Seek God now - don't postpone it

E - engage in conversation about God with friends - He's a great topic of conversation

E - establish a routine that bring you close to God - prayer, bible reading, devotion, etc.

K - keep looking up - if you're in a spiritually dry well, er, place, reach up - God will get you out


G - Get some praise music on to lift your spirit toward God in worship and praise

O - Omit the busyness or sin that has moved you into the land of spiritual dryness

D - Decide to leave the land of the spiritually dry. You have to *want* to leave before you can actually leave it.

Father, I have been spiritually dry before, and didn't even realize it at the time. Later, I went through seasons where I was full of heartache and spiritually hurting. Whatever the case, may I recognize immediately where I am if I end up there again, and may I take action to stay close to You in the busyness of this life so I will be less likely to wind up there again anytime soon. I pray for those living in the land of spiritual dryness. I pray they would see Your outstretched hand and reach up and take it. Lead them back beside Your living water. Help us to prosper for Your glory and honor, Lord. In Jesus' Name I pray...Amen.