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SOLITARY REFINEMENT THE HIDDEN POWER OF BEING ALONE
By ROBB D. THOMPSON Thomas Nelson Copyright © 2007 Robb Thompson
All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-59951-029-3
Chapter One MONUMENTAL MOMENTS
Let me begin with a story that I am sure you can relate with. I'll kill you!" the infuriated woman growled, reddening veins in her neck nearly popping with heated rage.
The Christian mother's heart quickened at the woman's wrath, her next-door neighbor threatening her once again, having used similar savage words countless occasions before. With parents living in another state, her husband swearing that "no woman was going to make him move," the other neighbors refusing to get involved, and her church family perplexed as to a solution, the thirtysomething woman escaped into the lower-level bedroom of her comfortable suburban home, desperate for help. The kids occupied elsewhere, she mused, I just know He can do it, acknowledging that only God was capable of rescuing her from the recurrent harassment. But she had to get alone, away from the cable television news, the library novels, the chatter of family, and the voices of her past and present, to sense God's presence. Alone, she knew that change would take place. She was determined to do it; she just had to make the most of these monumental moments alone.
Several decades earlier, not far from that suburban home, a buttery-haired little girl's parents were swept away into their own raucous world of addictions and quarreling. The young child, although physically in the same apartment as her parents, was emotionally detached, miles away from her family of four, numbing feelings and nerve-racking questions plaguing her soul. But strangely, though alone, she was not! Someone was there. An invisible Someone who was warm, affectionate, inviting, silently guiding, instructing, and mentoring her tender life. But it was only when she slipped past the fray, desperately gliding into those monumental moments alone, that she found more than life itself, literally discovering everything.
In a neighboring state, a young man's smile faded as swiftly as the morning's sunrise: what would he do now that Mom was gone, his sole emotional support in a family of turmoil? Alone in his upstairs bedroom, the grieving son had not one tear left to shed. Hearing the traffic drone a few blocks away and the television blast downstairs, with everything stripped away, his anguish lay as raw as a newly opened wound. With nowhere else to turn and no one else upon whom to rely, in sheer desperation, he knelt on the creamy carpet, preparing to receive whatever transformation God could bring, coming face-to-face with his fears, freeing himself to spend life-altering, monumental moments alone.
As contemporary lifestyles embrace endless sporting events, longer work schedules, supplemental schooling, and twenty-four-hour online shopping, it is almost as if being alone has become stigmatized, an oddity reserved solely for hermits and monks. In our culture's flurry of chaotic activity, how can we find time alone and how can we make the most of it after we've succeeded in finding it? And what if it's not as hard as we think?
Regardless of the people who may surround our lives, we are frequently left alone with the feelings, questions, and voices that swirl inside our overloaded minds. Throughout the day and night, we experience these moments alone. Of course, sometimes we pursue time alone by purposely scheduling it at a place and time free of distractions in order to finish a certain project, but what if we could productively utilize these moments when we are alone to truly revolutionize ourselves, our families, neighbors, communities, and eternity as well?
We can do this and more, once we cross the threshold beyond mere solitude into solitary refinement and discover the hidden power of being alone-monumental moments that change everything. Each chapter of this book not only shares notable wisdom on the hidden power of being alone but takes you on a journey through the Bible, highlighting how being alone with God transformed lives of those in the Scriptures. Enjoy the journey!
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Excerpted from SOLITARY REFINEMENT by ROBB D. THOMPSON Copyright © 2007 by Robb Thompson. Excerpted by permission.
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