This morning, I have been rolling some things over in my head and I started to think about the concept of voluntary exile.  I know you are wondering, "Allison, what in the world are you talking about now?"  I'm talking about voluntary solitary confinement.

I am talking about the process of allowing God to isolate you for the purposes of refashioning you.  Tearing you down to build you back up.  I know it sounds scary but it is a good thing!  I'm learning that.

For the last several years, God has been bringing me through a massive "pruning season".  Little by little, He has been cutting this behavior out of my existence, slicing that old friend away, flat out snapping off that nasty little mindset over there.  It has been painful in some instances and scary in other but, as I try my best to sit quietly until He takes a break, I'm starting to understand what He is doing.

I have learned that, when God starts to isolate you, He ususally has something special in mind that He wants to plant in you.  He is beginning a work and needs your full cooperation.  Half the time, we become so panic stricken at what we perceive is being taken away from us that we start running, flailing and fighting God in a wild frenzy to get free.  But we must try to sit still and remember that He is God.  If you truly believe that He has your best interests in His heart, sit still and know that!

I have found that He has made me sensitive to the timing of things in this season.  There are people that He does not want me talking to or interacting with during this season.  I used to get confused about why I got a little riled in my spirit when these people start trying to gain access to me.  I have figured out that I'm feeling like that because now ain't the time for them to have access to what He is doing in me. If they get hold of me, they will spoil the progress that has been made.   And some of these people are as close to me as family and don't mean to spoil.  They just don't understand what God is doing and they speak and act out of ignorance.  And the things they come to say sometimes have catastrophic results.  I have had to learn to "guard my gate" so to speak.  Pay attention to the timing of when these folks show up at your door.  As painful and lonely as it feels, I have had to turn some familiar and friendly folk away in this current season I am in. 

But don't despair . . . there are others with whom He DOES want you to meet and talk.  He will often send you folks that will enlighten you, encourage you, inspire you during your time of pruning and birthing.  And they won't always come in the way you think and they won't always stay for long.  But I have had awesome words come from the radio, from the cashier at the local grocery store, even from children.  God is speaking and teaching in so many different ways.  He is there and He is steady working.

So if you are like me and have found yourself sitting in solitary, don't resist.  I have decided that I won't resist my solitary confinement.  I've come to realize that I'm doing my time Martha Stewart style!  God feeds me when I am hungry, He visits me when I'm lonely.  God is at work and is taking good care of me in my cell!  I'll stay until His work is done!