Leviticus 16:29-31, “And this shall be for you a law forever: In the seventh new moon, on the tenth day of the new moon, you afflict your beings, and do no work, the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. For on that day he makes atonement for you, to cleanse you, to be clean from all your sins before God. It is a Sabbath of rest for you, and you shall afflict your beings – a law forever.” (NIV)
Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, is always an incredible day for me. In Leviticus, this day is described as one of repentance and deliverance, and that is precisely what occurs in my life each year. It’s as if the whole year builds up to this one day that we are called to lay all of our daily activities down, rest in His presence, and afflict our souls.
For me, afflicting my soul means that I should take away all the things I tend to put before God or what pleases me. I, personally, cannot fast due to my health though there have been times, over the years, where I have fasted on Yom Kippur. So instead of fasting, I usually put away my electronics, books, and anything else that could tempt me away from focusing on God.
Every year, Yom Kippur is different in some way. This year, I observed it twice; alone at my grandparent’s house (on the Rabbinic day), looking after their puppy, and with my parents at home (on the Biblical day). Last year, I celebrated it in Virginia with a couple who had never experienced Yom Kippur before; it was a fantastic day! The year before that, I was in Pennsylvania and spent most of the day in the Word, followed by a big party with people from the congregation up there. Then three years ago, I received total deliverance in my life. My entire world was shaken when things came to the surface that my family and I had to work hard to get through.
God continues to surprise me on Yom Kippur. There is honestly no way to prepare for it. When the Spirit is leading you, and you’re focusing on God, on this day, astonishing things usually come from it. For me, I almost always find out something new about my Heavenly Father and also about myself. God has so many plans for me that when the time comes for Him to reveal them, I’m always blown away!
I want to share with you all what transpired last Yom Kippur. Like I said above, I was celebrating this awesome Feast Day with a couple, the Goulet’s, who had never observed Yom Kippur before. Going into it, I had no idea how the day was going to pan out or what I was going to bring to the table. Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about because God moved throughout the day, and it flowed wonderfully.
We started by watching my parents talk about Yom Kippur (Click here). Everything they spoke about touched on the questions Mr.Goulet and I had discussed the night before! I’ve always said that I’m not the best person at explaining things, but God used me as a mouth-piece to get His Word across because there were times where I was shocked at how much information I had retained over the last couple of years!
After the video finished, the Goulet’s and I sat on their porch and opened our Bibles. We then spent the next FOUR hours going over everything my parents had spoken about, plus all the questions they had wanted to ask. Of course, there were instances where I could not answer their questions, so we sought out the answers in the Word.
I loved listening to the Goulet’s tell me their thoughts and answering their questions. It was the first time I’ve sat down with people to ask questions, read, and search through the Word to get the answers. I have also never had people ask me so many questions, nor have I been able to answer so many! God was indeed a part of our day!
Flash forward to the next day when I was sitting outside reading All the Light We Cannot See (a great book). As I was reading, words started flooding into my mind for a blog post. Then, before I knew it, ideas for creating this website came flooding into my mind. I became super pumped and started calling my mom and friends to see what they thought of my plan.
I’ve always wanted to be used by God to reach into other people’s lives with the things He’s revealing to me, but I’ve been too scared to share my words with those I know. It’s one thing to post to strangers, but another to allow those in my circle to read it as well! However, thanks to God, my fear is now gone, and I’m ready to share with the world what He is revealing to me on an almost daily basis!
“You know the hardest part about being a writer? The first read. Allowing yourself to be that vulnerable.” (Sierra Burgess is a Loser)
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