This has been my mind set pretty much all day, which is why I’m finally getting to my writing at 7:30pm!
Yesterday, when I went to open my “blog ideas” list on my Notes app…I panicked!
It.Was.Not.There!
Like, at all! Tons of other non-essential lists to myself are there, but my “go to” blog ideas list was gone. My wonderful husband looked up some ideas on google and then we just decided to call Apple tech help. Sweet Ashley from Austin, TX led me through the process of erasing my iPhone (yes…I said, ERASING!!), which at first totally freaked me out, but she assured me that if I followed her directions, talking out every step of the process, my phone would reboot in about 5 hours. Then she said, “But wait…before we go through this process, do you have an automatic back up set up on your phone?” Thankfully, I did (hard lesson learned from the last time something like this happened!) ~ I was confident that Ashley was going to be my saving grace and I’d get my LIST back!
I hope I haven’t lost you with this computer talk of erasing, rebooting, back-ups ~ but hang in there….
The one thing she kept asking me was, “Are you sure you saw your list before the last back up at 6:33am this morning?” I was fairly sure I’d seen it that afternoon, so we chose that back up to reload. There was also a back up performed 12 hours earlier ~ were my notes on that one? Well, we’ll never know! As I went to sleep last night, my phone had completed its 5 hour long reboot…everything was there right where I left it…except for my list!
Today was an odd Monday in that I didn’t have a concentrated day of writing, but it did give me a lot of time to think about what I would write, what could God bring to my mind, what could I remember from MY LIST! (Another panic moment!)
Then a friend of mine, who encourages me on “blog days” checked in with me. I texted her my tale of woe and she had the audacity not to join my pity party! She wrote back, “Guess you have to reboot your thoughts?” My eloquent ~ and most Christian-like ~ reply to that was, “Dangit!” To which I got her response, “An exercise in trust and patience.” I’m so thankful that God keeps friends in my life who keep me real and keep me grounded!
So, with my day of school activities and committee meetings, my brain kept tossing around the idea of “rebooting my thoughts.” What does that look like? How could I tap into that today? Or any day for that matter? What does a reboot look like for you?
In the dictionary, reboot refers to literally shut down and restart. Yes, this phrasing was coined in the early 1980’s with the dawn of the computer age, but read that again ~
“to shut down and restart”
But here is the twist my dear friend….you cannot undertake this process alone. You must consult with a professional…with one who knows how the manual works…with someone who can guide you through the rebooting process with minimal (or without any!) loss of information.
Had I tried to figure out how to reboot my iPhone, I may have lost precious photos (uh..yeah…I am currently downloading all my photos to my computer while I write this!), or other various apps and programs on my phone. But because I followed Ashley’s directions, and did not try to second-guess her (she’s the expert here!) or jump ahead of the process, the reboot was successful. My precious list didn’t show up (it’s floating around in cyberspace I’m sure!) but the reboot was a success. Everything that was on my iPhone during the last back-up, was returned.
Can you see where I’m going here? I hope so….it took my all day to figure this one out!
What is it in your life that is out of whack? Just a hair off? Something slightly damaged? What is God asking you to shut down and restart? What “data” is God asking you to erase? NONE of these things are easy or comfortable…they are sometimes downright frightening! But when the God of the Universe, the Father who loves you dearly, is asking you to trust Him through the process of “rebooting and starting over,” He can absolutely 100% be trusted! He is the expert of your life! He is the professional that you can run to in times of trouble and distress!
But before you can reboot anything successfully, you have to have made a back-up plan. Now, my iPhone can be set to do it automatically so I don’t have to think about it. Seriously, if I have one more thing I have to remember every day…ugh! Not a good thought! But with the Lord and His Word, it’s not an automatic anything. We have to be actively involved in uploading (I know….another computer term) the Living Word of God into our hearts and minds. When we are daily in process of reading God’s Word, praying throughout our day, we have a back-up of truth that we can draw from when we have to shut down and restart.
We have Old Testament truths in Deuteronomy 11:18-19, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” and in Psalm 26:2, “Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;” and in the New Testament we read beautiful verses like Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’” and a favorite of mine and so many others, Philippians 4:6-8, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.””
I would like to challenge you right now, when you are done reading this, to go to the Lord in prayer. Part of this time in prayer can most definitely include time spent in His Word (the best ‘owner & operator’ manual you’ll ever have)! This is not a “get an answer quick” kind of attitude here, but one of reverence for the fact that the Lord is the ONLY one you can turn to who can help you to be confident through the rebooting process. Allow Him to take out the thought patterns that are filling your mind with “spam” (sorry…I couldn’t help but get one more computer reference in there)! Let Him clear out the filters of lies that the enemy has been feeding your way. And then…FOLLOW His directions! This is key!
Jump in and let the professional erase the unnecessary and damaged views you may have about Him, about your life, about the world you are living in. Allow the Lord (yeah..the professional!) do His work in your life so that you can be made new again. So that you can move forward freely to accomplish the tasks He has for you, and so that you can do them well.
The rebooting process takes some time. Just like my iPhone, some of the apps came back right away and worked fine, while other more detailed areas took longer. There is no way to rush the process ~ because if you try, you will negate the process and it will have to start over. But thank you Lord Jesus that you are a patient Father, who desires to take the time (when I choose to place my life in His very capable hands) to get me back on the path to restoration and wholeness.
My friends, trust Him today with your reboot! It’s worth it!!
Blessings,
René
Broken & Blessed~Adventures in Gratutide! 