Letting Go to Make Room: How Lent Brought Me Freedom in Unexpected Ways

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We are currently in the middle of Lent…the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday where Christians typically give something up in order to draw their hearts closer to God.  For some, this season doesn’t hold a lot of meaning.  It certainly didn’t for me throughout my childhood and early adult years.  In my mind, it was an ancient, held-over tradition that lacked any value or impact. Just more rules and trying to be perfect.  No thanks, I’ll go straight to Easter when we get to celebrate. 

But over the last couple of years, I’ve been learning more about Lent and I’ve even been leaning into some of the practices.  It’s definitely different than I thought, and it’s been creating freedom in my life that I hadn’t had before. Freedom I didn’t even know I needed… here’s my Lent story:

My Lent Journey:

Year one, I gave up sugar.  I had noticed that when given the choice I was 100% choosing sugary snacks over healthy ones, which made me feel bad (as you can imagine…I’m a type 1 diabetic).  So I decided that I would take a break from processed sugar for 40 days.  Well, that lasted about a week and then I soundly fell off that bandwagon.   This might be some good material for “Friday Fails.” 

Year two, I gave up alcohol, my “take the edge off” substance of choice.  (Thanks, Brene Brown, for giving me a name for this!) Out here in Colorado, craft beer is part of the culture and I was finding myself consuming beer and wine on a regular basis, to the point where it became something I expected and if I’m honest, thought I needed, at dinner or when out with friends. I stuck with it for the whole 40 days. I replaced it with hot tea, resting, and asking God to restore me for the following day.  Lo and behold…miracle of miracles…this actually works way better than a regular craft beer.  I know…crazy. 

Year three, I’ve given up social media.  Yeah.  I know.  Practically suicide as a small business owner, but I could tell that I needed to let this go because of how it was affecting my mindset and day to day interactions.  I was distracted, angry, and so restless with the thought that I’m not enough and what I have was not enough.  And while social media wasn’t the only thing that was contributing to this issue for me, I knew it was NOT helping, so it had to go. 

I cannot tell you how helpful it has been to kick Facebook and Instagram out of my head for a period of time.  Yes, I will probably reintroduce the socials back into my life after Easter, just like I have sugar and alcohol, but this practice of letting something go that I thought I “needed” has created some beautiful re-calibration and redirection to what I ACTUALLY need.  Jesus.  That’s it. 

Why Lent Matters  

To be clear, Lent doesn’t make you more spiritual, or better, nor does it give you bonus points with God.  Lent is a path to help you create space to notice where your heart is in relationship to Him.  He longs for the completeness of you. The wonder of you, in totality, and we struggle to show up fully with all the other things we tie our hearts to. 

• Lent helps me choose Jesus rather than a candy bar, giving me comfort and energy that goes deeper than Snickers and satisfies the longings and needs that hide behind the external need. 

•  Lent points me to Jesus as the one who can help me understand why I’m exhausted, frustrated and worried while providing me with the soothing I need to make it to the next day. 

• Lent shows me that I’m loved and don’t need approval, I have amazing friends I can text, call and meet with for the connection I crave and that I can trust God to help my business grow while I take care of my heart.  And maybe He won’t, but that’s also ok, because He’s all I need.  

• Lent recalibrates my heart to see good things and just good things and not ultimate things.  It places Jesus back in the center where He belongs.

If you know that you have things in your life that need to go, at least for a season, why not give Lent a try and see what God does. I’ve created a digital devotional with my artwork, prayers, and poems to help you uncover what’s beneath the surface—making space for healing, restoration, and deeper encounters with God’s love.

Click here to download. 

Maybe the idea of practicing an ancient spiritual tradition is completely unappealing to you, and that’s ok too.  There are other ways to practice the spirit of Lent.  If that’s you, I would love to hear more and learn from you.