encouragement for social media

In sitting here this morning, and after praying a little and then reading in my daily reading plan, I thought I share about how my friend encouraged me a few weeks ago, on this whole subject of social media.  I don't really know why I even thought of this, except that I often pray that the Lord would use me somehow, and I know He has done that through my blog.  So maybe someone needs to hear this today, or maybe someone needs a bit of exhortation on the whole social media thing.  (I slightly hate that word 'exhortation', but that is one of my spiritual gifts, and I know it needs to be used from time to time.)  And I say that to challenge you to think about how you use social media.  I ask myself this same question all the time, trust me, and it's a battle to try to stay humble in this day and time and to think about my reason even for being on there to begin with. 

These images are ones I've shared in the last couple weeks. 

Without saying too much about this, a few weeks ago, I became so discouraged by a young friend of mine who judges very harshly through her social media accounts.  We all know that type of person, so I won't go into further detail, but that night, I actually deactivated my Facebook account.  I've considered this in the past, especially in the last few weeks, and I've removed the app completely from my phone a bunch of times.  (I don't love Facebook, because it seems to have a different feel to it and with that there is judgment like I experienced that day from a young girl I know, there is a heaviness, and most of what I see is extremely negative.)  So I deactivated my account, and then I called my friend to check if she could still "see" me on there.  She could not, but then we started talking.  She encouraged me to re-think my decision to do that, because most of what I post is something from scripture, and there are a lot of people I am "friends" with on FB that are not believers.  She knows I always pray for them and who knows if the Lord will use a bible verse I post to draw them to Himself. 

She encouraged me to keep posting things (through Instagram, because that's the social media that is my favorite) and to just go and hide all the people who are always so negative and judgmental.  So I took heart to what she said and logged back on, which is how you reactivate the account.  Nobody except her even knows that I deactivated it for a very short while.  I prayed about all the feelings I had about people and social media at the moment that I was going through this, and I asked God to help me NOT take every little thing to heart, or to be easily offended.  And He has helped me in this, and then I went and hid a LOT of people. 

I chose to hide these people because I don't love all the negativity they project on social media outlets.  And on other accounts of theirs, it's not that way, it's just Facebook, where everyone (myself included) shares articles on every topic under the sun.  Again, we all know that type, and often, we do the same thing!  After all, did you know that social media has made everyone experts on everything?  (Said jokingly.) 

So I have taken into consideration all of this, and I am just keeping on doing what I always do.  I post things from my quiet time, and often.  The Lord always highlights something for me in His word, almost every single day, and if it encourages my heart, I figure it'll have that same effect on someone else.  I post about books I read, because people know that I love to read and ask me for ideas for themselves.  (I can ALWAYS talk about this!)  I post old pictures of my boys, because once the teenage years hit, they are far less agreeable to standing still for a quick picture.  I love architecture and cool things like abandoned houses or old buildings, so I post pictures of that from time to time.  I love nature and always seem to be taking pictures of clouds or sunsets or a beautiful patch of flowers or my mom's bushes.  And I love cooking and beautiful plates of good food, so often times I will post a picture of what we ate for lunch or dinner, and then later will share the recipe with folks, because we all get into cooking ruts, and I am always needing inspiration for dinner.

I just share with other people things I love to see, and figure if I like it, they will too.  And if not, well, the option to KEEP SCROLLING is always there.  I had someone get mad at me for posting too much one time.  Y'all.  Then get thee off of social media.  That's what I wanted to say, anyway, but I didn't.  I quit posting for a while because of what they said, and this was someone I'm fairly close to, but then I figured I wouldn't let what they said bother me.  And I also figured that the enemy wanted me to listen to that person, but I stopped listening to what she had said and started posting again. 

I think we all need to be encouraged and exhorted from time to time.  I love posting things that are uplifting, because who needs all the negative junk that's always out there?  It's literally all around us, so I like to be a light in the darkness.  The bible tells us that God Himself is light, and in Him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5).  And Jesus said that He is the light of the world (John 8:12).  I take those words very seriously, and I try to be that same way.   And also, for those of us who are believers and followers of Him, we might be the only glimpse of Jesus that someone ever sees.  I know that for me, He has given me a verse image on Instagram right at a time that I needed it.  One morning just a few weeks ago, He had me see a verse out of Jeremiah three times before eight thirty in the morning!  It was about Him refreshing those who need refreshing, which was right what I was going through at that moment in time.  So He can even work through social media, my friends.  There is nothing that is impossible for Him, and His Holy Spirit leads and guides us.  It's so strange to think about, but I know He has done that for me, and if that is the case, than He can do the very same thing for someone else. 

That's about all I had to say about this topic.  I pray that it encourages someone today, and I hope it challenges you to think differently than everyone else.  For those of us who are believers, let's share more of Him!  I love seeing such things on social media, I couldn't care less about selfies and pointless or mean spirited stuff.  If that is something you want to do, then just pray and ask Him to help you in this.  I promise, He will. 

Thank you for reading my blog!  Love to all.