What am I doing in here?

Have you ever been standing in a room at your house or somewhere at work and asked yourself this question, "What am I doing in here?" This happens to me ALL the time. I want to explain it away by dismissing it as menopausal amnesia, but truth be told, I'm not sure that is the truth.

You see, I am easily distracted. There is a lot going on in my brain, all the time, and sometimes it just goes a little haywire. Just today I had 3 projects to complete. Yet, all 3 are still at an "in process" state of being because I couldn't finish one completely without getting distracted. Or trying to do a little work on all 3 instead of prioritizing and finishing 1 before starting the other. This is the story of my life. I am really trying to do better about this issue. (But even now as I type, my brain is thinking of something I was wanting to do earlier and I almost got up from the computer to go do that very thing!) Ugh!

I am not sure if you can identify with this in all aspects of your life but maybe, like me, it does tend to carry over into all areas. One area that I am really hitting hard with focus is the area of my quiet time with Jesus. Now, let me just say that regular quiet times are vital and have been vital to me for quite a while. It would not be that I would neglect my time with the Lord daily, but my mind would tend to drift to to dos and what's nexts and creative projects instead of staying focused on what it should be focused on.

One thing I LOVE about church is that God reads your mail and the preacher often speaks into you right when you need to hear it. It may not be correction or discipline, but maybe creativity and suggestions. That is what happened to me earlier this year. Perry Noble, our pastor at NewSpring, did an entire message on how to study the Bible. It was so practical and an amazing message! You can check it out HERE! And the same thing happened this past Sunday. You can check out that message HERE!

I wanted to share some things with you that God is really bringing to my attention lately. I want us all, this blog family, to be connected to the Root and not disconnected and blame on our distractions. I know. We are all busy. Single, married, kids, grandkids, retired, working, stay at home mom....it doesn't matter. We are in the same boat. Satan will fill our minds and hearts with distractions just to drive us away or put a wedge in our relationship with Jesus.

• We are as close to God as we want to be.
• God wants to speak to us way more than we, often, want to listen.
• In reading through Job, as a church, we looked at 38:1-3. "Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm..." 38:1--God always speaks in the storm and Jesus reveals who He is in the storms 
• After Job listened to the voice of God, then he was blessed.
• Seek and Surrender to the Voice of God
• One of the primary ways that God speaks today is through the Bible
• Hebrews 4:12--The Bible is living and active and Jesus wants to meet you there daily
• Psalm 19:7-8--Word of God revives the soul
• Proverbs 30:5--Word is a shield for those to take refuge
• Goal of the Bible is NOT to change the way we FEEL, but to change the way we THINK!
• Yesterday's bread is not satisfactory for today's nourishment! (DAILY Bread--daily Bible time)

Thinking through these points/verses and examining where I am in my relationship with Jesus, one thought comes to mind "am I closer to God now than I was...3 months ago, 6 months ago, 1 year ago?" What about you? Do you think there may be somethings that you could possibly change that would take your relationship with Jesus to the next level?

I have been thinking through and praying over these questions. For me, I am making some changes. I have gotten in the habit of getting out of my house to do my quiet time. Right now, being in my home is a distraction. There are a million things to do and a million things to make my mind drift. It is really working when all I focus on is the Word. I am making sure that I am journaling prayers, reading the Bible, journaling verses and thoughts that stand out to me as I read, and also having a section of Listening & Distractions. In the Listening section, I write down things that I feel like God is pressing into me at that time. Often times it is not even related to what I read but something I feel stirring in my heart. The Distraction section is for me to write down the things that are vying for my attention (grocery items, to do reminders, calls to make, etc). This way I can put them in their place and then get back to focusing on what I am supposed to be doing.

Is this the only way to approach a quiet time? Of course not. Will this way guarantee that you won't get distracted or lose focus? Nope. But maybe it will spark something in you that will cause you to take stock of where you are. Then you, just like me, can start making changes that will grow your relationship with Jesus. Not sure where or what to read? If you will go HERE

Dear family and friends, thank you for listening to my rambles today. This is what God is dealing with ME about--letting distractions get the best of me. Maybe we can keep each other accountable and pray for one another so that we can get past the barriers that are hindering our walks with Jesus from going to the next level. Love you all!