Distracted

Distractions have been a huge burden on my heart since the beginning of the year.  Personally, several distractions had became more and more profound in my everyday life.  One of those was my phone.  The device that is suppose to make life easier, help me feel more connected and more accessible, was making me feel less connected in my walk with the Lord and less accessible to the ones I loved the most. 

I was slowly becoming more familiar with my iPhone screen, than the pages of the Bible.  I found myself saying to my children, "Hold on a second, let me reply back, let me see what they said, hold on, let me......".  Blake and I realized that we couldn't even have a conversation without the phone dinging, buzzing or ringing.  It was distracting us from each other.

It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I couldn't breathe.

It had gotten the best of me.

Satan had gotten the best of me.

He dangled this in front of my face, and with the touch of a button, I so easily caved.   

So, I did this.

See those 4 empty holes at the bottom of the screen, my four biggest temptations...

Twitter, gone.
Facebook, gone.
Blog app, gone.
Pinterest, gone. 

To the best of my ability, I eliminated Satan's strongholds and his temptations on my life (and my fingers).  With prayer, it was truly as simple as touching a little red box to delete.  Gone.  Out of my sight.  Out of my heart. 

THEN immediately came my fleshy, self-centered reactions.  At first, I remember having to stop myself, because like an addict, I needed it.  I longed to see what people were doing, saying, posting, etc.  "What am I missing?", I thought to myself,  and "Will some of my relationships suffer?", or "Will I feel like I'm in the dark?"

THEN, the Lord comforted by doubts.  I began to rephrase these questions in light of CHRIST.

If I was spending countless minutes starring at my phone, "WHAT AM I MISSING?"  Too much, I decided. The gospel is too urgent, I don't have time to be wasting time.  I was missing the beauty of pouring myself into prayer and God's word; fully & not half-heartedly or when I get finished reading my twiiter and FB feeds.

"Will my relationship with HIM suffer?" Yes. If I am not engaged with Him as my personal Savior and Lord; the one that died for and had mercy on me enough to forgive me of my sins! What was I doing? How blind did I have to be to realize this truth.  My relationship with Him has to come above all else.

"Will I feel like I'm in the dark?" What I discovered through this process is that darkness is constantly bombarding us with the in the things of the world.  John 1:5 says “The light has come into the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”  I need to be intentional with my time to avoid the distractions that will lead to darkness and focus on things that bring light and life.  Not the trivial or the temporal.  The eternal and the everlasting.


He who was, is and is evermore.  Out lasting all of the things that I see with my eyes today, He has and will overcome them all.  

Thankful and grateful for His sacrifice.  Grateful that this time of silence, even though it has been very difficult at moments, I have conformed more into His image; sacrificing the things that I seemingly head so dear.   

 

Seeing the cross with more clarity than ever before, especially in the months and weeks leading up to Easter.