You ever drive to work and wonder sometimes how you got there as you were just on auto-pilot? Or walk into a grocery store with your head down, trying not to make eye contact with anyone so you can just get in and out quickly? Fill your plate so full that you are too exhausted to give yourself, your loved ones or God the time you want? Or taking it a bit deeper and maybe felt God trying to show you something but you ignored it as it didn’t align with what you had planned for yourself? Yup, pretty much story of my life. And I’m sure we all can look back at our lives and find ourselves in this mindset. We focus so much on what is ahead or behind us, what we want or don't have, or avoiding a circumstance or battle we’re in. This mindset though causes us to lose focus on the present, what is right in front of us; God’s work. God’s work is always being done even when we don’t feel or think it, no matter how difficult our current situation or deep the pain we’re experiencing. He lives in the present, trying to shape us each and every day.
In today’s world it’s so easy to get caught up with the latest gossip, publicity stunt, social media account or political turmoil. There is more than enough in today’s world to distract us from God and His word; more than enough to fill our minds with noise and distraction, enough emotional and physical pain to cloud our hearts. But when was the last time you sat still? I’m talking pure silence and just listened. Not to music, the TV or the noises outside your home. Not get lost in a Netflix series, a book or scrolling your news or social media feed. But listen in silence for His voice, His word, His plan for you. How easy it is for us to become too distracted and busy for the one who holds the book to our life. And total disclaimer, I am just as guilty as everyone else.
I’m the type of person who fills my plate so full that I run constantly until I crash into bed at night. I struggle to say no to people out of fear of hurting their feelings, or letting them down. So that leaves me stressed, overwhelmed and distracted. I found myself not even having time for myself, let alone for God. And then one day I said enough, it all clicked when I was reading a book about taking control of your thoughts before they spiral out of control. In the chapter I was reading it talked about being so focused on the future or past that you miss out on the present. You miss out on what God is trying to show you in your current situation.
I am guilty of either jumping the gun so far into the future that the likelihood of my thought-out scenario is pretty farfetched or I get trapped in my past with the what-if's. So as I was reading this chapter so many things clicked. Am I currently where I thought I would be in my life? Nope. Did I anticipate having 7 surgeries by age 35? Nope. Did I expect to be divorced, single and living on my own with my kiddos? Or have an auto-immune disease that will forever affect my life? Nope. But here I am; exactly where God intended me to be. He didn’t change the course of my plan when a life struggle happened or where I may have missed a sign (and let’s be real I missed a ton). No, he knew all along where my mistakes would be, where my detours and struggles would fall. So rather than focusing so much on where I am not in my life or what I'm not doing, I am changing the course of my thoughts. I am choosing to focus on what God is trying to show me, right here, right now, in the present time.
Look up from your devices, your social media accounts and your computers. Silence the noise and distractions in your life. Embrace your struggles and your current situation. God is working in you at this very moment in your present situation. All we have to do is quiet our minds and hearts so we can hear Him. To open our thoughts to hear His, open our hearts to His love and open our eyes to see His plan. He’s waiting for each one of us to just look up and focus on what is right in front of us, HIM. There is good in every season of our lives. We just have to pause, silence our thoughts and focus our eyes on God to see His work being done in each of us.