Seasons of isolation are for your protection and growth. Unfortunately, since these periods are challenging, it is easy to falter in ways that can potentially delay or derail your transformation. For this reason, it is necessary to know how to appropriately deal with the lesson of isolation. Here are some things you can do.
Work on strengthening faith in God. First of all, do not beat yourself up; it is common to doubt God's plan during dark periods in life. Immerse yourself in stories that will inspire you. Some of these stories are from the scriptures, movies, documentaries of real life situations and so on. Like Moses, when God appears in front of you, recognize your 'burning bush' experience, ie God's supernatural presence and commune with God to get instructions for your path forward. Recognize that, despite your struggle and the apparent impossibility of your situation, God is instructing you to proceed on a great mission that will be successful if you trust and obey God. Example(s)
- Moses and the burning bush is a story of trust in God's supernatural ability to do great things in your life, despite destructive forces. Ultimately, Moses defied his past of slavery and oppression and Moses' personal speech impediment to become a great reformer. Moses was an Israelite, which, in his time, was an origin that was condemned by the Midianites to slavery or, in the case of male children, death. However, he was able to grow up in Egypt's pharaoh's palace. When Moses grew up and the pharaoh found out about Moses' true intentions (to defiantly protect people from oppression), the pharaoh wanted to have Moses killed. Consequently, Moses fled. He got married to a Midianite woman, the daughter of a man named Jethro. One day while tending to flock, God' appeared to Moses as a supernatural flame in a bush (whose supernatural nature did not consume the plant as would have occurred normally). The bush expressed to Moses God's sadness over the oppression that Israelites suffered and desire for Moses to resolve the problem. As many called upon by God, Moses expressed doubt in his ability to accomplish the task. For instance, he foresaw himself being unable to speak convincingly to people, even if Moses simply told people that God had sent him (Moses). God also showed Moses supernatural signs that he should show to others to convince them. For instance, his staff was essentially a wand through which God's supernatural power manifested. This staff turned into a snake and back to a staff when he retrieved it. Moses motivated God's anger because Moses remained doubtful. In the discussion between God and Moses, God insisted that Moses proceed despite Moses' fears and Moses' brother could accompany him to speak on Moses' behalf. Moses ultimately triumphed. (However, what ensued before the triumph was not straightforward, simple victory. Instead, it was extended warfare between the Pharoah and Moses. This included various plagues that Moses brought through God's power and the Pharoah trying to use dark magick in response and an unwillingness to surrender to Moses' requests. Even after Moses triumphed in freeing and leading his people away, his people sometimes became doubtful and fearful of the ostensible trap into which Moses had led them when they met an ordinarily impassable sea while Pharoah's men pursued them. Moses regained their trust by using his staff as a wand to part the seas to allow the safe passage for only his people, while Pharoah's army perished in the sea once all of Moses' people had crossed the sea safely.* Notice how even joy from victory and the strongest faith eventually waned yet again among those on his team. Men around you will do the same at any point in the face of challenge, in this case, the hardship they encountered while crossing the dessert. Of course, each time, Moses delivered. Ultimately, he led his people to the land promised to their ancestors.)YouTube video by Bible Blazing 'The complete story of Moses like you've never seen it before'
- See story of Gideon.
Create a routine for spiritual connection and study, perhaps prayer every X time daily, regardless of how low you feel in the moment. Having a routine establishes your spiritual practice as a priority. Use this time to commune with God. Discuss your fears, doubts and concerns as you would with a very wise and trusted friend who really wants the best for you. Ask for faith, guidance and communication that you can recognize and understand. In addition to the obvious that isolation is God calling you to spend more time with him, also ask how you should use the isolation. A clue is that it involves something that you have not yet mastered.
- Your routine may involve listening to podcasts as you go through your day.
- Maybe you are isolated in the sense that you are in desperate need of help but people who one would expect to support you turn their backs on you or show themselves as your enemies or frenemies. This may be your wakeup call to recognize that you must let them go and seek out more suitable people who resonate with your goals. Consider how Gideon needed to whittle down his army to only 300 other men of fearless courage. In a sense, he felt a sense of isolation because he needed to recognize his need to walk alone or with very few people to accomplish his mission. This isolation taught him to recruit only the appropriate soldiers and to press on despite his feeling of hopelessness and despair. He needed to embrace faith in God to proceed to victory.
- Borrowing from the hermetic principle of polarity, recognize that feelings of despair are on one polar extreme. Seek ways towards the polar opposite to at least reach a more balanced state.
If you encounter key points that you need to anchor into your life, write them down and put them in places where you are bound to see them frequently.
- Place scriptures on your refrigerator door, your phone, your work desk and so on.
- Place a candle in a central location with which you have many encounters, like your work desk, kitchen counter and so on. Allow it to burn with keywords written on its side.
Accept and support changes that God is making.
Find ways of veering away from constant worry and towards calm when faced with challenge. Do not beat yourself up for falling into depressive worrying and anxiety about the future from time to time. However, do your best to ascend out of this. Worrying is a negative distraction from your present day that robs you of blessings and other things of which you can be grateful today. Furthermore, worrying excessively can get you lost in future uncertainties and cloud your judgement and prevents you from seeing the potential growth in the current challenge. It is necessary to trust in God's future provision and care. To this end, practice mindfulness in the present moment. When you find yourself spiraling, lay your concerns before God and leave them there.
- Have the trust in God like Abraham did. God asked Abraham to leave everything with which he was familiar (his home land) to go elsewhere. Without knowing where he was going, he dropped everything in his life and left.YouTube video by Story_Verse 'The faith of Abraham: journeying into the unknown with trust in God'
- When faced with sudden strife, take your moment to cry but then, in the next moment, ask for guidance and understanding regarding how you can learn and grow. As mentioned above, are you being forced to strengthen your faith like Gideon and Moses ... or have you been snatched into your proverbial 'belly of a whale' like Jonah who fled in the opposite direction from God's instruction?
- Consume material that promises to strengthen you and advance your spiritual growth over harmful habits like substance abuse (including food). When tempted to consume negative materials, turn to meditation, music, art, journaling or other mindfulness practices.
- Avoid comparisons with others because this practice leads to feelings of inadequacies, jealousy and envy. Rather, focus on your individual path.
- While prudent planning is necessary, be careful not to over plan with rigid goals as rigid goals may prevent you from being flexible enough to benefit from surprising new opportunities. In other words, mentally prepare yourself to adjust your goals along the way. Additionally, overplanning can also give you a false sense of security in your personal abilities (over God's). YouTube video by Above inspiration 'God holds tomorrow: enjoy today & don't worry. Inspirational and motivational video'
When or if possible, commune with people with whom you can have a spiritual connection. Maintain those relationships that help you along your path. Share your plans with only a worthy friend who also recognizes the need to remain open to surprises that God presents along the way. If possible, find options for connecting with others by joining activity groups or classes for something you are bound to enjoy.
CONTENT RELATED TO DEALING WITH ISOLATION
How to handle isolation (third party Christian perspective)
- The story of Gideon
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* Other noteworthy mentions of a staff and serpents as symbols of supernatural power include the serpent staff used in conventional medicine to convey the idea of healing powers.
