Isolation.

When I hear or think of this word, I am immediately transported back to a season of my life during college where everything and everyone that I trusted in was completely stripped away. Friends that I'd know since my freshman year all of a sudden acted like they didn't know me. My family that I love and trust was miles away. My image, the clothes, shoes, and hairstyles that I enjoyed and felt somewhat defined me where no longer appropriate for my current season. I was pregnant with change. See, when you're pregnant, you can't just wear the things you used to wear and do the things you used to do. Your diet changes. Your weight increases. Those high heeled stilettos that you used to wear all over town are no longer cutting it. It's time for the flats, baby. 

Now, at first, I didn't understand why all of this was happening. I was depressed and felt completely invisible everywhere I went. Have you ever been in a room full of people and felt like you were all alone? If so, you know exactly how I felt at the time. I spent day after day in the cafeteria sitting alone with no one to talk to. I would go to my room, weekend after weekend, as all of the other girls would walk past my dorm & be laughing and heading out for a fun night on the town, and saturate my mind with the word of God. He was my only friend. As time passed, people that I had never known began to see me and befriend me. One particular young man came up to me out of the blue and told me that God had given him a vision of me sitting on the side of the road like blind Bartimaeus in the bible (Mark 10:46-52). He told me that people had been walking past me day after day and not noticing me at all, but that God sees me and will raise me up from this place. I just sat there and cried, so thankful that God had not forgotten me and so encouraged that God would place me on someone's heart and have them deliver me a message in my time of need. As I surrendered to God's plan and meditated on the word of God, I began to see change in my life. God began to bring me out of the shadows and back into the light. People on campus began to see the change and were drawn to me. Giving God all the glory, I was quick to acknowledge that it wasn't me, it was the fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14-15) that had come during my time in the secret place. As my season of isolation came to a close, God brought into my life abundant joy, overwhelming peace, beauty for ashes (see Isaiah 61), my best friends and soon after, my amazing husband. I gave birth to the new season of life that God had prepared for me and reaped the benefits of surrendering to God's will.

If after reading this post, you find that you are in a season of isolation, be encouraged that God knows the end from the beginning. His desire is to give you beauty, joy, praise, freedom and so much more. Isaiah 61:1-3, one of my favorite passages in the entire bible, says:

1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor; 
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 
To proclaim liberty to the captives, 
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, 
And the day of vengeance of our God; 
To comfort all who mourn, 
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, 
To give them beauty for ashes, 
The oil of joy for mourning, 
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; 
That they may be called trees of righteousness, 
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” (NKJV)

As I read this passage, I am reminded of the glorious Hillsong United song, "Beautiful Exchange". Be encouraged that as you allow God to strip away all of the people and things in your life that are holding you back from what He has for you, He will do nothing more than exchange what you had for His best. 

Love,
Emonne Markland
Leave YOUR Beauty Mark

(This post was originally written in 2010, but it was on my heart to repost again. Thank you for reading, and please share with others who may need to be encouraged during a season of isolation.)