Emptiness: The Feeling Only God Can Fill

©2024 Kimberly Sprawling. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN: 979-8-35094-076-3 paperback

ISBN: 979-8-35094-077-0 ebook

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. PRESENCE OF GOD

2. LIFE IN GOD

3. LOVE

4. JOY

5. PEACE

6. GOODNESS

7. FAITH

8. THE SEARCH IS OVER

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SYNOPSIS

30- DAY DEVOTIONAL

REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to take this moment to acknowledge everyone who has pushed and prayed for me into the place where I belong in this walk called life.

I thank God for each one of you. My God continues to bless you all.

Love

INTRODUCTION

On the 4th of October 1970, the famed rock star Janis Joplin, at the age of 27, was found dead in her Los Angeles hotel room. Questions arose about whether the cause of her tragic death was suicide or an accident. Later, police reported that they located a small quantity of heroin in the rock singer’s room. There were also needle marks on her arm. Just before the incident, Janis had admitted to a friend, when I am not on the theatre stage, I just lie around and watch television and feel very lonely.

Also, the king of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, just before he died, wrote on a note these words, I feel so alone sometimes. I’d love to be able to sleep. I’ll probably not rest. I do not need for all this; help me, Lord. I know you have hopes and aspirations. You want to be great and famous. You want to get a job promotion and be your boss one day. You want to have so much money that your worry is not how to make money but how to spend it. You want to marry that beautiful lady and live happily ever after. You want to appear on the front page of the newspaper. None of these thoughts are wrong.

Janis and Elvis were once on that page; they wanted it all. They wanted to be the best in their career and eventually rose to stardom. Their fans would pay any amount to watch them perform on stage. The hall is always filled to capacity, and the atmosphere is always electrifying. But something was missing. They had a void in their life that no fame, popularity, or wealth could fill. This emptiness grew wider until their lives choked out. Do you also have a feeling you can’t explain? Do you already have all you desire but still feel something is missing? Do you have this void that you’ve tried to use money or fame to fill, but it’s like pouring water with a teaspoon on the desert? Hey! I’m glad you are holding this book. That means it’s not over.

Emptiness- The feeling only God can fill is written to inspire those who have allowed different voids in their life to be filled by material things, people, and professions. Emptiness means a desolated sense of loss. The lost becomes a void or an unfilled space. Emptiness becomes a place where darkness lives, leaving the residue effects of pain and hurt. If emptiness goes untouched, the hurt and pain grow deeper and continuously create more pain.

Emptiness is where many of us have allowed the horrible pits that life has forsaken us. The thought of being forsaken often comes through unfulfillment from our parents, broken promises, as well as past and present hurt. Sadly, creating these voids has become the norm and the best coping mechanism, that realism is obsolete. Too often, we cover up our voids with I’m good, I’m okay, It’s just a part of life. The realm in this is that we display and become someone we are not and dismiss the thought rather than dealing with the reality. There are so many of us in the world today who have an unfilled void or voids. We must understand that we can’t fill voids with alcohol, drugs, friends, relatives, cars, houses, money, careers, or other materialistic things. Often, the desire for more or better possessions is a longing to fill an empty place in our lives. We tell ourselves, If I can just make friends with some class of people, I’ll be fine. If I can buy the latest car or move my family to a new sophisticated apartment. If only I could just be this and that. All these are human desires that, rather than fill our emptiness, they only widen and deepen them.

In my struggle in emptiness, I consider myself guilty. I would surround myself with people to help me cope with what I was missing. However, while coping with what was missing, there would be moments when people would not pay me attention. I felt rejected and unwanted. It had taken a fair amount of time, but I realized that it was not the people but what was happening inside me. What I wanted couldn’t be filled by a person or group of people or take the place of that void. I recognized I was not happy. Do you feel the same? Are you also seeking fulfillment, happiness, and purpose in mundane things? Are you always disappointed when people do not give you attention? Do you feel lonely and only smile at people, so they won’t consider you as proud?

I’ve realized that the voids in our lives are core longings connected to our spiritual appetites. These longings were embedded in us at the time God created us. They are developmental traits that we received from our parents at the time of conception, up until our present moment. Somewhere along life’s journey, it became obvious that many of our core longings lacked the complete development process. These longings were not nurtured properly and lacked being nurtured by God. Because we are so uniquely designed, these longings remain a part of us.

How do we long for something, but yet we remain empty? Remember, emptiness is an unfilled void. However, knowing when we have acknowledged these voids in our lives is good. Over the years, as we continue to grow in Christ, knowing that He is the ultimate connection to our core longings. He fills all the voids, and we can connect to the source to begin our true fulfillment -the source being God. Psalms 40:2-3 states, He brought [us] up out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set [our] feet upon a rock, and established [our] goings. And He [has] put a new song in [our] mouth (KJV).

Therefore, only God can fill the void in our lives. And to do that, we must surrender ourselves to Him and allow Him complete control. We must fully allow Him to work on us from the inside out. Although this is a process, it is in this process that God can and will begin to bless us even more. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are renewed and reformed. When the Holy Spirit starts to shape and form us, the voids in our lives become obsolete. Our voids can be filled when we take on the spirit of humility. Matthew 5:3 says, God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven, is theirs (NLT). We must humble ourselves so that God can come in and fill the voids in our lives. God cannot work on us if we are not subject to His will and His hand. A feeling that we have it all covered moves God away from our lives, and we are left to sort ourselves.

When we humble ourselves, we walk in the assurance that God must have total control of our lives. We must exercise faith by allowing God to fulfill the voids in our lives and replace them with happiness, joy, love, and peace. This is when life truly begins. Life aspires to a new meaning. Life becomes Zoë. Zoe means life at its absolute best. In John 10:10, God says, the [enemy comes] to steal, and to kill, and to destroy [but Jesus] come that [we] may have life, and [life] more abundantly (KJV). God wants us to live a pleasing, acceptable life according to His will. Therefore, we must allow Him to come into our lives to remove our empty spaces’ hurt, guilt, and shame. God does not want us to let the enemy destroy us by filling these voids with people, places, and things. The life God wants us to have is not emptiness covered by the abundance of possessions or fame, but His presence and Spirit. God’s presence leads us to a life in God. Life in God gives us the Spirit of God, which is evident in love, joy, peace, goodness, and faith, to name a few.

So, open your heart as you go through the pages of this book. God desires that you are joyful and full of life, not downcast. No father is excited about seeing his children sad. So, allow the Spirit of God to amplify and apply the words in this life-changing book to you. Start by laying aside your pursuit and humble yourself under God’s might hand. I believe that the breath of the Holy Spirit will inspire you as you read this book and fill up every emptiness in your life.

Are you set for a life of eternal fulfillment? Let’s dive in!

1

PRESENCE OF GOD

The Duke of Wellington once said about Napoleon, I used to say that his presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men. Just imagine the impact of the presence of a strong leader; how much greater and awesome is the impact of God’s presence? From the beginning of creation, God desired that man would always be in His presence. So, the Bible says in Genesis 2:7-8 KJV, And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Man was supposed to live and dwell in God’s presence. The first man exemplified this when he was in Eden. He had zero apprehension and was content with his assignment. He had no ambition and was busy fulfilling his purpose: to tend the garden. In fact, Adam was so satisfied with God’s presence that he didn’t see singlehood as a void in his life. But when man sinned, God’s presence was one major thing he lost. The Bible says in Genesis 3:23-24 KJV, "So the LORD God forced the man out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground he was made from. God forced the man to leave the garden. Then he put Cherub angels and a sword of fire at the entrance to the garden to protect it. The sword flashed around and around,