Distractions- Be Still

I'm currently sitting at my dining room table with the following things spread on it:
-Kirkland diapers
-baby monitor
-Levi's sensory station box filled with pinto beans and trucks
-a large stack of my husband's files from work
-my planner
-phone
-computer
-Nehemiah study "A heart that can break" by Kelly Minter (which I might add I started on 3-21-16 and I'm STILL not finished) --Talk about distractions!--
-a sippy cup filled with water
-my Bible
-and a Voice telling me...

"Just sit with Me for a while...take time....stop." 

Distractions....

Why is it so difficult, and at times, scary to sit in silence and just be still? This is a very hard task for someone like myself who is a to-do lister, clean kitchen obsessor, ADHD, preggo mama with baby #2 and a toddler to chase.


However, the art of BEING STILL is also very hard for an always healing heart and soul that was deep in the trenches of darkness and got so accustomed to using distractions and the art of numbing to get by.

I seem to always need the background noise of distractions.

This is often my way of shutting out His voice to be still and listen. Or to be still and take the time to reflect and write. What a gift it is to have any time to have silence and time to myself to reflect, but yet, I shove it away and make excuses that other to-do items need to be checked off my never-ending list or I don't have enough energy to reflect and go back to those dark days.

Why?

I think there are a number of reasons:
1) Satan is working VERY hard to keep me from time spent with Jesus
2) I'm often fearful of what I may uncover---and the road and next steps I will need to take. The fear of ACTING on what He has revealed
2) I have a skewed reality of how to prioritize my time/to-do list

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only BE STILL." 

-Exodus 14:14

It amazes me that Our Creator God will help me fight through my self-doubt, fears, distractions, excuses and the everyday battles and all I have to do is BE STILL.

I believe that God has instilled on each of our hearts our next "task" to work towards to further and deepen our relationship with Him and also bring Glory to His name in this dark world. However, we can't determine what that "task" is until we take time and BE STILL with Him.

That nagging thought that keeps popping up during the day, in devotion or prayer or any time of reflection or even when I stop to just allow myself to think (usually while driving, showering, or getting that first burst of energy after having a sip of coffee)....that's HIS Voice saying: Trust Me and Follow Me.  Don't worry about what others will think. 

What distractions in your life are more important than that one thing He is calling you to do?

-Is it to forgive that person you said you could never forgive?
-Is it to finally make that commitment of time to join the praise band at church? Or join that Bible study that your friend invites you to every week?
-To take time and uncover the deep hurt from your past that you have buried?
-Is it to ease an anxious heart about upcoming transitions in your life that seem out of your control?
-Or something as simple as committing to daily prayer for that one friend who isn't a believer.

I'm continuing to learn the many ways to stop and be Still. To rid myself of distractions around me and focus on His Voice and His Calling. To have the courage to face the reality that there will never be a good time to take that first step, to rid myself of the distractions to enter into a closer relationship with God. I'm learning to put my stubbornness aside, and accept the reality that I can not ACT on anything until I TRUST that the Lord will fight for me and do what sometimes is the hardest thing to do...BE STILL.

The distractions and to-do lists of this world are temporary. Focus on the eternal by being STILL with our Heavenly Father so we can better learn the path He has made for us.