HOW DAILY DISTRACTIONS GET IN YOUR WAY

So many of you loved my Want Ad post last Sunday, and I agree with many of you about it being Divine Intervention. He planted the idea in my mind in the middle of the night, and then He gave me the words for the post. I felt immense happiness because I felt like He saw me, He used me, and I felt humbled and connected to Him. The funny thing is, with life, you can expect things to change daily. Last week, I felt like I was on a Spiritual High. This week, I feel like I am in a Spiritual Funk. Since I try to be honest about my journey, I decided to share my week with all of you because I bet some of you have felt the same way.

 My week was hectic, and I found myself getting distracted. Each night before I go to bed, I schedule the blog post for the next day and close my laptop. Then, I take my daily Bible journal and place it on top of the computer. I am also re-reading The Circle Maker, so I place it there also. I do this so that I remember to do my daily Bible journal and read several pages of the book before I get distracted with the day.

There are some days when I am reading and writing, and my mind is somewhere else. I keep having to pull my attention back, but once your mind wanders, it never fully recovers.

1 Corinthians 10:13

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Whether it is a whining dog or the ding of an email notification, distractions are how the enemy tries to tempt us away from the Lord. He knows that we can easily be distracted, and he hopes that once we are distracted, we will not go back to the Lord. So, I try to set my own notifications, and these are the kind that will help me to stay focused instead of being distracted.

To pray more often and for things that I want to pray for, I’ve set the alarm on my phone. When it goes off during the day, it will say Pray for the others and those who are sick, Pray for my family, Pray for myself, and then as I go to bed, I pray for our leaders. In that category, I put the church and its leaders, teachers, police, lawmakers, local, state, and federal government officials, and anyone else that I can think of who has authority over someone. I pray for wisdom for them and that the Lord is guiding them.

James 5:15

¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Psalm 91:9-12

⁹ If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, ¹⁰ no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. ¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; ¹² they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

Colossians 1:9-10

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, ¹⁰ so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,

1 Timothy 2:1-2

2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

You would think that I have this praying thing down-pat, but you would be wrong. Instead, there were several times when my alarm went off, and I hit snooze because I was on the phone or writing something. There were also times when I hit stop because I had intentions of praying once I finished what I was doing.

More time than I like to think about, I would forget. When the next alarm would go off, I would feel guilty because I knew that I put the Lord behind whatever small task I was doing.

So, yesterday, when I sat down to write this post, I had no Divine Intervention. I only had excuses, and I apologize for the lackluster post.

Isaiah 43:18-19

¹⁸ “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. ¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

But, there is good news for me and you also. We all have a RESTART button that we can hit at any time. The Lord is forgiving and welcoming. He knows that we struggle, and he tells us not to dwell on the past. Start each day off with a prayer of forgiveness and then ask for the strength to avoid distractions.

To God Goes The Glory!

Have A Blessed Day!