Revisiting Lent...

Last week Lynne wrote a post about Lent, and I am not even going to pretend to follow that up with the same amount of class and grace that she possesses.

I'm not a theology student and I have not studied the history of Lent or its practices in great detail. Like Lynne, I didn't grow up in a church or family that practiced it.

The first time I ever participated, I did so more out of peer pressure than holy conviction. I spent a few years rotating the denial of desserts...pop...snacks...basically anything that would give me a bit of a spiritually-induced diet.

Then came 2010...the year I hadn't really thought about Lent and hadn't made a plan to give up something specific. The first day of Lent arrived and I declared that I was sitting that year out from the practice of denial.

That evening I got in my car to drive to church {a 20 minute drive for me} and the radio blasted at bug-the-car-next-to-you levels. Just minutes into my drive, I felt a pang of conviction so strong, it took me by surprise. God nudged me to turn the radio off and leave it off until Easter morning.

{Pause: Yes, I realize I work in radio and to even offer this in print is a bit odd.}

I wasn't sure I'd heard correctly. After all, music in the car is one of my favorite ways to praise. But I sensed it again. Turn it off. Leave it off until Easter morning.

I dug a CD out of the recesses of my car and found the track to the Hallelujah Chorus, put it in the player, set it to go, and punched the off button to the radio.

Silence.

It may have been the longest 20 minute drive in the history of my life.

At first I dreaded getting in the car every time I had to drive somewhere. Dreaded the deafening silence. But eventually I began to fill that time with prayer and discovered a nearness to God I'd never experienced before. It wasn't long before I looked forward to the drives...to the quietness and the intimacy with the Savior.

Easter Sunday morning dawned, and I put on a ridiculously bright dress and hopped into the driver's seat. I punched the on button and sweet music filled the car {and several around me, I'm sure}.

It wasn't until a few weeks later that I realized what God did during that time. You see...just a few days after Easter, I went through the beginning stages of the breakup that unglued me so entirely. And as I fell on the mercy of the Lord in my brokenness, I found that I knew exactly how to hear Him. He'd been preparing me for 40 days.

I'm not telling you to turn off your radio for Lent. What I am telling you to do is listen to the Voice of the Lord and follow the nudgings He gives you. Even if they seem odd. He picks them purposely and one day you'll understand why He chose them.