#BeTheLight Challenge

 

Last week I shared that today we would be participating in the #BETHELIGHT challenge along with 7 other bloggers.

I’ll start off with full disclosure, I am so thrilled to be joining with these lovely and inspirational ladies. I will also tell you that in the 6+ years I have been blogging I have never felt so much indecision about what to what exactly I should share with you all today! If I didn’t have one idea, I had ten, but not one topic specifically called to my heart despite much prayer over it.  However, each time I thought about the words “social media” one experience keep popping into my mind, so in the end, that is the story I decided to share.

First let me recap this series if you missed it. The idea is to encourage everyone to use social media to uplift and inspire those they touch via social media. I think almost everyone has had at least one negative experience on Facebook or other social media.  Be it from seeing pictures from an event you weren’t invited to or, as can be the case most recently here in America, reading someone’s political views and suddenly seeing them in a whole new light. There is even a new social term now–FOMO–or ‘Fear Of Missing Out’ –when your life doesn’t seem to be living up to what everyone else seems to be doing, at least online.

I admit I am not that active on Facebook (I just looked and I have posted 2 or 3 truly personal things in the last few months), I also don’t have an active personal Instagram account. That being said, considering that I have a blog–where our readers see everything from the inside of my closets to my bathrooms–I figure I am already sharing enough of my life online.  I am just as aware that a blogger’s perfectly staged photos can perpetuate the same feelings of inadequacy as a Facebook post, and I struggle sometimes with that aspect of this whole blogging business.

In thinking about what to share today, I kept recalling when, about two years ago I had to completely remove myself (to the best of my ability) from social media. I even went as far as to delete the Facebook app from my phone, that way I wouldn’t give in the temptation to open it when I had a few spare minutes. You see, at that time, I was at my sickest {you can read about my ongoing battle with lyme disease HERE}; I could no longer bear to see people were out there doing all the things.  I remember the final straw was knowing that friends of mine were away on a girls’ weekend, and I couldn’t help but see all the pictures on Facebook of the good time they were having. My heart was crushed because (knowing I didn’t feel up to it) not only did they not invite me along, but I also knew I couldn’t have kept up with them anyway. While they weren’t trying to hurt me, and I wouldn’t have wanted them not to go, I continued to feel like my personal reality was getting smaller and smaller each time I got online.

At that same time {and still often shake my head over this}, I would see posts on facebook and feel incredulous that people were actually complaining about things like traffic and the weather–I remember thinking, “I can’t get out of bed today and this is all they got?!” Anyway, I share those memories because it taught me so much, most importantly that perspective can be everything. While I wouldn’t change my journey because I know it is in God’s plan for me, since that time I do think I am more aware of times when I am posting something on social media just to lift myself up in other people’s eyes. I know too well that sometimes these small things we are compelled to share, even in joy, can cause hurt and pain even when it is never our intention.

Now, let me get back to bringing in positivity to this post–that is, after all, the point! Thanks to the recent feed changes on Instagram, where it shows more popular posts to more people, I am overjoyed to share with you that while our feed is primarily home decor based, by far our most “liked” photos right now are the Bible verses we post on Sundays. I love that! How much more do I want God’s word to be liked than a picture of the pillows on my couch?

Today I wanted to give you one of our most “liked” Instagram photos ever. This is by far my very favorite image in our feed. I do not have the source {if anyone knows please tell me!} but I feel like it is worthy enough to go ahead and share it with you all.

 

So this my friends is the takeaway on social media I offer you. We can’t control what other people do, we can only control our reaction to them {gosh, how often do I tell this to my kids?!?}

So, when that doubt creeps in, when you feel inadequate or left out, friends sit up, straighten your crown, and remember that you are the daughter of a King. 

We hope you will join us, the eight bloggers in the Be The Light challenge, to use your social media over the next few weeks to share light and hope in the world using the #bethelight hashtag. Times are a little scary, people are worried and negativity abounds. Rather than allowing yourself to let those feelings creep in, we would love for you to find a moment, in whatever way you are called, to let you light shine to others on your social media.

 

 

You can join our #bethelight facebook group here to share how you are lifting up your social circles this week.

Thankfully I am in much better health now, I no longer feel like I am missing out on things which gives me a much greater appreciation for my health. Of course, I still blog and show you pictures of my home with all the mess cropped out. I tend to cultivate our Instagram feed to show only the prettiest pictures, and yes, I am back on social media personally and still go down the Facebook rabbit hole too often when I should be working.

Since we really can’t avoid social media, I wanted to leave you all with something to inspire you from our #bethelight series. Simply upload this image to your phone, you can use it as your lock screen or your wallpaper so that when you close that Facebook or Instagram app, and you’ll always have a reminder of  just whose daughter you are.

 

You can download this image for your phone lock screen by opening this post on your phone, right- clicking, then saving it to your phone. Then, open Settings from the Home screen. Tap on Wallpaper. Tap on Choose a New Wallpaper. Tap on the location of the new wallpaper you want to choose. Tap on the image you want to use.

Here is the series schedule:

Salvage Sister & Mister -Nov 1st
11 Magnolia Lane – Nov 2nd
An Extraordinary Day – Nov 3rd
Plum Doodles – Nov 4th
Blessed Lonestar Mess – Nov 5th
At the Picket Fence – Nov 6th
Real Girl’s Realm -Nov 7th
The Homemakers Journal – Nov 8th

We all look forward to seeing how you shine your light these next few weeks.

XO,