When God Gets Your Attention 11-23-25

Distractions. One of the least intrusive sounding words… It’s not harmful, it’s just a distraction. It’s not a thief of your precious time and attention, it’s just a distraction. It’s passive, unobtrusive, … could even be seen as a break from the hamster wheel we can’t seem to get off of sometimes. It’s not a big deal, it’s just scrolling on social media for a little while to get my second wind… then I’ll get back to it.

Admitting it might be a problem, telling myself I would not go there again wasn’t helping. The house is still disorganized 2 years after I retired. Surely I could have made more progress than this by now. Self-recrimination didn’t do me any favors either. Just made me feel worse when I did it again – when I could have been doing more productive things.

There IS a difference between getting needed rest and “doom scrolling”. A walk is peaceful, burns calories and reduces stress. A nap allows your brain to shut down and your body to heal. Reading a book expands your perspective, renews your mind while it gives your body a chance to rest.

But last night, while making the turkey, cleaning up the counter as I went, trying to stay ahead of it, I answered the siren call of the book of Face, getting sucked into reels, posts of complaint and comparison, and other non-essentials while my husband, several feet away was reading and napping alternately (the weather yesterday was not kind to him).

I was battling a headache, that by mid day had mostly gone away, but as I was getting ready for bed after the fixings for tomorrow’s Friendsgiving was safely packed away in the fridge, it came back. I tried some exercises, drank some water, but then resigned myself to sleep through it.

When I woke up, it was affecting my breathing, my left side sinuses and neck and my ability to think clearly. I looked at the clock. 10 minutes of 2. AM. I thought to pray but nothing came out of my mouth, just the thoughts. I thought about others having trouble sleeping, in pain. I tried a facecloth with hot water, like a compress on my face, and breathing through the steam to break up the congestion. Not enough relief. By 2:45 I started a bath to soak in the hot water. That would open up some blood vessels… 20 minutes in the epsom salted, baking soda water did loosen some things up. I went back to bed, sang part of a song running through my head and looked it up on YouTube. A very young Gloria Gaither was singing, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there’s just something about that name…” I was trying to get out of my head and into Someone bigger than my situation. The auto shuffle in loading up the next song was Nicole C Mullen singing “The God Who Sees Me”, starting off slow with Hagar and Ruth and then building to David and Jesus. I hadn’t heard the song in so long and it was POWERFUL! “I will be a ring of fire around you, and I will be the flowers in your hair…” What? There’s no flowers in hair in this song… Oh. <3 Thank You God.

I start thinking about the past few days. The shift in what happened in me at prayer dock Friday morning. God I don’t ever want to forget any of that. As chains broke and words tumbled out after years of stuffing so many things, putting on various masks of “got it all together”, while God was gently calling me out of the prisons He set me free from… buried with Christ in His death, raised to new life in the power of His resurrection. But still feeling, but not realizing (like Lazarus) the grave clothes were still on me. Old attitudes, old habits, old perspectives, stinking up the walls I kept going back into. “Lazarus, Come forth!” He came out of the tomb, but he needed help to get the grave cloths off his body. In word and action, my friends did this for me Friday. And this morning, in song and in remembering, God got my attention again. In addition to, “Do not conform any longer to this world” (Romans 12:2), He reminded me of “It is for Freedom that Christ has made us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1) I have the power to choose. I have been choosing old wine, and the new wine skin needs new life, new wine, living water. Today is a new day. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I choose You. Help me walk with You out of these old habits and into the new Life You want to show others through me. The grave cloths are gone and the royal robes were custom made by the One Who re-made me. Why would I want anything less? Thank you Father. <3