Fasting.

Hi all.

I'm writing to let you know that I'm taking on a media fast of sorts for the next month. Not because I'm all cool and disciplined, not because I'm super-spiritual. Actually quite the opposite. I've been remarkably bad at listening to God's voice lately, and this is a critical time in my life when I desperately need to hear from him. Not to mention that I need to invest time in things like lesson plans and grad school applications, and not in Facebook and my favorite blogs.

So, a media fast it is, and in the interest of transparency, I'm going to lay out my guidelines for you here:

1. No Facebook, at all, until February 14, 2013. I know you'll all be lost without my clever status updates for the next month. Try to be strong.

2. I'm reserving my RSS feed and my TV shows for weekends only. The goal is to avoid mindless time-wasting and using media stuff to numb me to my need for Christ, so I am purposely cutting these things out during the week. I'm going to allow them in moderation on the weekends because, speaking as someone who lives in Haiti, it's important and necessary for me to incorporate little pleasures into my life. So, during the week: off-limits. On the weekend: acceptable in moderation.

3. I will use the Internet for: e-mail (necessary for my job and communication with loved ones), lesson planning (also necessary for my job - when you write your own curriculum, you need all resources at your disposal!), Skype (for communication with loved ones). I haven't decided yet if I will blog over the course of the month. I think if God grants me some incredible insight to share with you, then I will. If not, then I won't.

I hope you don't interpret this as legalism on my part. God did not "tell me" that I MUST do this. I just know that I feel distant from him, and I don't like it. So I'm taking some steps to give him more room to speak, work, breathe in my life.

I'd like to humbly request, if you are a pray-er, that you would pray for me over the next month, that:

1. I would experience God's love for me in new and meaningful ways.
2. He would give me insight and direction for the here-and-now, and for my future.
3. I would trust in His goodness, even if I don't see it.

And finally, if you must get in touch with me, I can be reached at kristen.bulgrien@gmail.com.

Back next month, hopefully with some insights to share. Catch y'all on the flip-side :).

-Kristen