Simple Ways to Fill Up When Your Soul is Starved by Amy Seiffert

by Rachael Adams | Mar 16, 2023 | The Love Offering Guest Blog Series

I should have used a travel mug. Because I was certainly traveling all over my house that hurried Monday morning.

Instead, I had my trusty heavyweight café mug, the kind modeled after WWII submarine mugs so they wouldn’t slide around. And it was full of delicious coffee and brown sugar oat milk creamer. Kids were getting their school gear together, my husband and I were grabbing our bags, and we were all piling into the van.

Rounding the corner to snag my coat, I collided with my youngest. Thankfully he has catlike reflexes and jumped back to avoid the slosh of coffee and cream. But the hardwood floor had a coffee bath.

Whatever is in our cup, when bumped, out it will come. And isn’t this the same for our hearts, our lives, and our walks with God?

If we are drinking in God’s love—filling our cups with it—we will spill that onto anyone we come into contact with. But if we are filled up on anxiety, fear, and self-sufficiency, that will spill out onto anyone in our path.

We are starved for fresh narratives that feed our soul. We are starved to know we are the Father’s beloved, when the world wants to tell us “we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us,” as Henri Nouwen points out. We are starved for solitude and healing with our Creator when we keep reaching for noise and distraction from our phones.

May I offer a few simple ways to fill up on what is good, right, and lovely—so we can offer good, right, and lovely to the world?

Replace Five Minutes of Scrolling with Silence

The last thing I want to do is add to-dos to your life. So let’s consider a swap of something you already do. Like trading sugar for honey, try trading noise for solitude. The practice of silence is one of the chief ways we start to believe and internalize the love of God in our life, which will in turn spill out on others.

What if today you took five minutes, set down your phone, and sat in silence with God? What if you stopped and sat in Love? What if you let the world keep going and let God be in control?

The more we practice sitting and doing nothing in the silence of God’s love, the more space we make to hear His voice and let Him whisper sweet comforting words to us. As Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV) says, “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

Replace Anxiety with a Peaceful Hand

The Greek word for anxiety is merimnao, which means “to be divided or torn.” I will often find myself standing in one place (say, my kitchen sink doing dishes) but my mind is in another place thinking about my teenager’s choices. My feet are in one place; my mind is in another. But the Greek word for “peace” is eirene, which means “to bind that which is torn.” God wants to wrap His arms around you and bind you with His peace, so you stay present, whole, and integrated. So you can trust Him with what you cannot control. When we practice taking our anxiety to God and using our holy imagination to picture His arms keeping our peace, we will bring peace to those around us too.

When anxiety rises and you find yourself torn, try placing your hand on your heart. And then offer to God a simple prayer: “God I feel anxious about ______. This anxiety is part of being human. Wrap my human heart in your peace and help me to trust you with______. Amen.”

Replace Self-Criticism with Self-Compassion

We are often full of self-criticism, which spills a critical spirit onto others. Self-compassion is the solution to self-criticism. And it is a spiritual practice. When we are self-compassionate, we agree with God’s compassion for us and we wear the crown of compassion upon our heads (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:4, 8) When we are self-compassionate, we practice the truth that we are not condemned, but we are free by God’s grace (Romans 8:1).

When we are self-compassionate, we honor being an image bearer of God Himself (Genesis 1:27).

Today, when self-criticism rises up, practice God’s compassion upon you. Pray, “God, help me to be kind to myself as you are kind to me. I am a work in progress and you aren’t done with me yet. Amen.”

May these three practices bring nourishment to your starving soul and fill your cup with the goodness you want to offer to the world.

About the Author:

Amy Seiffert is the author of Grace Looks Amazing on You and is on the teaching team at Brookside Church. She is an affiliate Cru staff member and a regular YouVersion Bible teacher. She loves to travel and speak (and try new foods on all of her adventures!). Amy is married to her college sweetheart, Rob, and they live in Bowling Green, Ohio, with their three kids.