Distractions
by Danielle King / Web Administrator
I recently attended a Bible study about spiritual warfare. One of the ladies in the group said that while there are many things that can challenge or attack our relationship with God, one of the most dangerous, but subtle, is distraction. I could easily relate to that.
One morning in particular, I pulled my phone out before breakfast intending to do a reading plan on the Bible app. About 15 minutes later my husband walked by and asked if I was still reading, and I was, but I was reading some article from Facebook. BUSTED! How did I end up there? Probably one small alert on my phone that led to seeing the photo my sister posted, then a news story, then a silly quiz about what my favorite kind of cheese reveals about my personality. The day had barely begun and the smallest of distractions were already steering my day.
Luckily, I still had a few minutes before the kids got up so I did open my Bible reading plan. The reading challenged me to spend my day pausing and simply saying, “Speak Lord” and then listening. It was an invitation to recognize God’s presence throughout my entire day in a very simple way. I decided to take the challenge.
God must have been pleased with my decision because I did actually remember to do it many times that day - a small miracle for my tired working-mother-of-three-running-on-little-sleep brain. Before any distractions could take hold, I just stopped and said, “Speak Lord.” It also took away the pressure and procrastination of gathering my thoughts and spending a long time communicating what I wanted to say to God. It immediately invited Him into my situation.
Part of this particular study was probably supposed to be about listening to God speak instead of just talking at Him in prayer, or a great exercise in seeing how God can help me when I give Him the chance. While those are definitely worthwhile practices, God primarily used this to teach me about distractions that day. Whenever I had a free moment, a stressful moment, a sad or happy one, I was able to experience it with the knowledge that God was right there in the moment with me. Other days I forget, or more likely, I am distracted from that knowledge.
Who knows where my day may have gone if I had continued to let distractions steer my day. Instead, they were kicked to the back seat and, like a long road trip shared with a friend, God stayed in the front seat with me all day long.
I recently attended a Bible study about spiritual warfare. One of the ladies in the group said that while there are many things that can challenge or attack our relationship with God, one of the most dangerous, but subtle, is distraction. I could easily relate to that.
One morning in particular, I pulled my phone out before breakfast intending to do a reading plan on the Bible app. About 15 minutes later my husband walked by and asked if I was still reading, and I was, but I was reading some article from Facebook. BUSTED! How did I end up there? Probably one small alert on my phone that led to seeing the photo my sister posted, then a news story, then a silly quiz about what my favorite kind of cheese reveals about my personality. The day had barely begun and the smallest of distractions were already steering my day.
Luckily, I still had a few minutes before the kids got up so I did open my Bible reading plan. The reading challenged me to spend my day pausing and simply saying, “Speak Lord” and then listening. It was an invitation to recognize God’s presence throughout my entire day in a very simple way. I decided to take the challenge.
God must have been pleased with my decision because I did actually remember to do it many times that day - a small miracle for my tired working-mother-of-three-running-on-little-sleep brain. Before any distractions could take hold, I just stopped and said, “Speak Lord.” It also took away the pressure and procrastination of gathering my thoughts and spending a long time communicating what I wanted to say to God. It immediately invited Him into my situation.
Part of this particular study was probably supposed to be about listening to God speak instead of just talking at Him in prayer, or a great exercise in seeing how God can help me when I give Him the chance. While those are definitely worthwhile practices, God primarily used this to teach me about distractions that day. Whenever I had a free moment, a stressful moment, a sad or happy one, I was able to experience it with the knowledge that God was right there in the moment with me. Other days I forget, or more likely, I am distracted from that knowledge.
Who knows where my day may have gone if I had continued to let distractions steer my day. Instead, they were kicked to the back seat and, like a long road trip shared with a friend, God stayed in the front seat with me all day long.