Distracted Hearts

Life can become extremely busy at times causing us to unintentionally distance ourselves from God, His word and His purpose for our life. From the moment Joe and I closed on our house, all I could think about was our big move. We had so much to do in a month’s time and I had no idea of where we were to begin. We had a shed full of stuff that had to be thrown away, because unbeknownst to us, the roof had a leak causing major water damage to everything that had been stored in it. We had another shed that was full of items that we had planned on donating but just never got around to do so. And then we had a house that was a compilation of items that Joe and I had individually collected over the years that needed to be sorted out and then packed. We were talking about six years’ worth of stuff; some I don’t think we had looked at in years. That is the problem when you use a guest bedroom for storage – lol. My mind was running constantly as I was trying to organize everything and figure out our next steps.

During this time, I had completely stopped writing. I had originally set a goal for myself that I would write at least three times a week and it had now been well over three weeks since I had written anything. My mind was 100 percent on our move. First, Joe and I rented a dump container so we could through away all the damaged items and have them hauled away. Since we only rented it for two weeks, my mind was focused on having the one shed emptied and cleaned out before our scheduled pickup. The following week I was focused on the shed with all the donation items. Initially, we had everything organized by the different organizations we donated to, but over time it became a disorganized mess.

Finally, when I thought I was ready to write, my mind would just go blank. Some may say it was just writer’s block but I believe it was a distraction of the heart. Unfortunately, for me, when my mind is consumed and not aligned with God, my heart also becomes easily distracted from the purpose that God has set before me- which is writing to reach others and lead them to an intimate relationship with Him. And that is exactly what was happening to me these past few weeks. Every time I tried to sit down at my laptop and type, I became easily distracted by a half-packed box or a pile of “need to pack” items. My mind was literally consumed with thoughts of moving and packing and my heart’s desire was to just get it done.

For almost a month, I jotted down brief thoughts as I sat and talked with Jesus, but I had completely stopped journaling. I had stopped taking the time to sit with the Holy Spirit and write about whatever it was that He was showing me and teaching me each day. I had stopped allowing the Holy Spirit to move through me and provide me the right words to type so that I could inspire and encourage others. I was allowing the distraction of moving to consume my life and choke out what God wanted me to do. And sadly, this was causing me to feel restless and frustrated.

The enemy of course tried his best to attack me during this time. He tried to make me believe that what I was setting out to do was never going to happen. He tried to convince me that I did not have the ability to manage a regular work life, home life and writing life. He tried to convince me that I was a failure because I fell short from the goals that I had set out for myself. The enemy was basically trying to convince me that I just needed to give up on my purpose because I was just not good enough. Thankfully, his tactics did not work.

Instead, God met me right where I was, letting me know that while preparing for our move was not necessarily a bad thing, it was definitely drawing my attention and heart away from His calling on my life. He helped me realize that when our focus shifts from eternal things and to temporary things, we are at risk of missing all the things that come from walking in step with His will. He also helped me to understand why it is so important to identify the distractions in one’s life and so that we can make the conscious effort to realign our focus on Him and what truly matters. When I was finally able to do so, the Holy Spirit filled me, leaving no room for distractions, which allowed the words to flow onto my laptop screen. And despite the fact that I still had boxes to pack, my heart’s desire was to write and there was nothing that was going to distract me from what I was meant to do.

Consider the various activities you have in your life and the amount of time you spend of them. Do they bring you closer to God or further away? Do you have distractions in your life that might be pulling your attention away from God’s purpose for you? When you are able to identifying your life’s distractions, you are taking the first step towards refocusing your heart and moving closer to God. Please share in the comments.