The Bubble

Last weekend I was speaking to a youth group in South Florida (Port St. Lucie) and the theme was: Living Out the Word. I spoke under the topic of: Living out Word when you need a Word. The question was this:

HOW DO YOU LIVE OUT THE WORD WHEN YOU’RE IN NEED OF A WORD?

I want to share a little bit of what I spoke about. Maybe in a future post, I will get to the second part of the topic which was the study of The Shunammite Woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37 and it meshes well with what I will share today.

 

 

IPhone Bubble

There’s a feature that iPhones carry that allows you to see when someone is responding to a text you’ve sent out. It’s “the bubble with the 3 dots.” Know what I’m talking about? It’s actually called the “typing awareness indicator” but we all know it as (the bubble): the time between text messages or what I like to call it, the waiting period.

That little grey bubble can cause some serious anxiety.

I was reading an article from The New York Times and the title was: Bubbles Carry a Lot of Weight, the author was saying that this feature was causing too much anxiety “It’s giving monumental weight to matters of a text message.” The issue is not even the text messages, what gives people anxiety, it’s the “time between text messages”- it’s the waiting period. It’s waiting for THAT response, for that answer. She says her therapist ordered her to disable it on her phone because it was affecting her.

Maryam Abolfazli, a writer in Washington says this: “The three dots showed while someone is drafting a message in iMessage is quite possibly the most important source of eternal hope and ultimate letdown in our daily lives.”

Paul Dourish, a professor at the University of California says: “The awareness indicator as implemented on the iPhone is a curious beast- it conveys that something is being done, but it won’t say what.”

I don’t know if you’re following me, but just hang on for a minute.

As believers, many times the Holy Spirit conveys that something is being done in our lives but He will not reveal it to us just yet. We are in a bubble, in that waiting period.

And as I said, this can be a frustrating feature, why? Because all sorts of emotions can go into waiting for a response. Let’s say you send out a text message:

• You get happy when the bubble pops up because the other person is responding…But then the bubble takes a long time and you’re like.. Wow! Let me brace myself because I am about to read something deep but then what happens…

• The bubble disappears  and you’re left in a total and utter confusion (what happened? Weren’t you responding?) So at that point, we begin to get upset, sad, confused, and ignored. Then when you least expect it, all of a sudden the…

• Bubble comes back up, after 20 minutes, you're thinking, "there is hope", we are back on track now, the frustration turns into a sigh of relief … to only receive a ONE word: “K”… WOW! Really?!! All this for a “K”.. You couldn’t even type the full word, OKAY or OK, you type “K”. Or the response is: Yes, Cool, Good or even worse, the dreaded emoji (thumbs up!)

We’ve all been there, we can laugh about it because we can all relate, at one point or another, we’ve poured out our hearts to the Lord and cried out to Him as Jeremiah 33:3 says and we have not heard back. We can quote scriptures till we’re blue in the face but the real question is, how do you live the word when you need a word? And I would add.. when you're in the bubble?

Waiting on God can sometimes cause some serious anxiety because by nature we do not like to wait. We hate to wait in lines; we despise being stuck in traffic. Who has time to be patient and wait? We live in such a busy society that demands our time and attention but when God demands our time and attention, we can't comply. Oven cooked prayers do not result in microwavable answers. It doesn’t matter how long you have been praying, it’s all in God’s timing, not ours. Trust me, you will thank Him later, even if you don’t understand now. Delays are tough when you don’t know why they exist but if you could get a little insight, a  glimpse, a tip, some kind of information then the waiting process would be a lot easier to manage. Sometimes God reveals something, sometimes He reveals nothing.

I want to encourage you today, do not get discouraged if you find yourself STUCK inside the bubble! If you still have not seen anything; begin to PRAISE Him because God is up to something. That bubble indicates that something is happening. God is working it out! That bubble conveys that something is going on even if you don't know what's going on. Trust God in the bubble! It doesn’t matter what your present situation looks like, live out your life by believing what the Word says! Live out the Word!! Walk in total confidence and with the boldness God has given you to declare His promises. 

If you are in a bubble:

• Of uncertainty, continue to believe

• Where nothing happens, keep waiting (something is happening)

• Where everything is upside down and completely opposite of what God spoke to you. Keep pressing through, your bubble will soon pop and you will see manifested God’s Word over your life

The bubble is an uncomfortable place to be in but it is a necessary place to be in. Why does God keep us in the bubble?

1. So we can learn how to trust and whole-heartily rely on Him and Him alone. He is our only source.
2. To increase our faith. If you want to believe God in a deeper level, you have to go through deeper situations.
3. To develop us. Sometimes we simply need to grow up. We are not ready to receive YET what has been promised to us. He wants to develop us and get us ready. Sometimes we are too immature to handle the blessings. Take this time as training.

BUT THE QUESTION IS THIS:

How are you going to react inside the bubble? How you react inside the bubble will determine the outcome when get outside the bubble.

You may be in a BUBBLE of:

• God, I need a miracle
• God, I need healing
• God, I want a family
• God, I want to see my family serve you
• God, I need a job
• God, I want you to use me
• God, my business
• God, my ministry
• God, my future

Your reaction will determine God's action.

If you’ve been praying about something, start PRAISING and change your vocabulary to IT IS WELL! Speak Life. (Read the story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8-37)

When you find yourself in the bubble, think of the three dots as: It. Is. Well. because God is up to something!
 

Be Encouraged, Be Blessed!
Landy Perez-Feliciano ♥