How do you keep God at the center?

I have had a ruff couple of weeks. I've felt scattered and have experienced what I consider a living definition of hell. (hell in my book is a life shut away from God)

I know it's because I wasn't keeping up with affirmations and prayer and not asking for divine guidance. It's like even though I is was in the yuck and muck and needed to prayer and center myself the most, it was the last thing on my mind...and the last thing I was *able* to do.

how do you carve out that time you need with God?

I wish I had an easy solution-I find myself in the same situation many a day. You're not alone-I will pray for you.

I pray in my car, in the bathroom, in class - If I feel like I need to talk to God, or want to - I do. Period. May not have time to read the bible daily, but I get the encouraging word of the day in my email every day, listen to Christian rock in my car, and pray whenever I can.

((((((((hugs))))))))

I have found it easiest for me to have my "talk" time with God when I am driving to work in the mornings and before I realize it, I am at work.

While you are having a rough patch, I would like to suggest something to you, (this is something I have started doing and it has helped pick up my spirits), Look at the people around you, at work, the grocery store, wherever you are and you most likely will see others that are having a rough patch, maybe even harder than yours and then you can stop and say "Thank you God for my blessings."


Today, I was feeling a bit down (having a bit of a pity party for myself so to speak) and a collegue came in to talk to me and he was telling me that he would be glad when Friday was over. I could not believe it, I looked forward to Fridays and I asked him why. He said because every Friday he has to go in for a blood transfusion and an IV Iron transfusion. He has done this for the past 20 years of his life, but it is getting worse because he is allergic to the Iron and they are on their last "mix" that they could do with him and his body is rejecting it. After he left my office, I gave my thanks and said a little prayer for him. I know I am having rough periods, but his is a bit worse than mine right now. I gave thanks for my blessings and asked that he be blessed as well.

I am sorry you are having a rough period, but things will be better soon. When you look outside and see your children playing, tell God thank you. You don't have to spend a great deal of time praying... just a little thanks will do.

God Bless you.

We started a thing at our church a couple of years ago called Connect 15 where we spend at least 15 min with God before doing anything else. I've found that the ONLY way I can do this consistently and without distractions is early morning. Like 5:30 am early. I've resisted this all along because I haaaaaaaaaate getting up early but have pretty much resigned myself to the necessity of it. I never regret it when I do but when I convince myself that I can do the same thing right after the kids go to school then my mind is already in 50 places and I can't really get settled and focus.
Anyway, that's what works for me. YMMV. :)

here is something I wrote last month on the topic, my dad and I have a newsletter we work on together 6 or so times a year....I am a little nervous to post it here, but hopefully it will be encouraging. To sum up what I do when I am feeling like you describe, I make the time to get into the word and prayer anyway, whether or not I am "feeling" the feelings I think should go along with.
Anyway, here is my article, kind of long. :) ( I just noticed in preview the margins and paragraph spacing are kind of crazy and I can't seem to fix that, hopefully it will not run together too much)



Don’t Leave Me Out!
I don’t often say out loud that I have heard from God. There are frequent times when I feel his presence, feel his words penetrate my heart, either through reading the bible, speaking with a friend or hearing some good teaching. God is good and faithful to reward those who seek Him, and I have certainly experienced that reward time and again in my life.

But, in spite of that, I don’t often say oh God told me this or that. I tend to temper it a little bit, fully aware that when God speaks to us, it has every capability to get intermingled with the human existence and convoluted completely. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am also fully aware that my hesitation in announcing that GOD TOLD ME SOMETHING comes, in part, from many years of watching my parents in ministry – there is a sheer crazy number of things people are willing to convince themselves, and others, that God said to them.) So instead, I will usually say I feel like God is showing me, or something I am learning is—because it sounds more tender and tolerable and leaves open the possibility that my interpretation of things is way off the mark.

A very impactful book in my life has been Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. When I first read it 10 years ago it really helped open my eyes to exactly how God communicates with us - through His word, through other people and through circumstances. Since that time I have started really paying attention and journaling about hearing Gods ‘voice’ in my life through these avenues. Times that someone will confirm something I am hearing somewhere else and then see it line up in the bible, or when a certain scripture reaches out and clutches at my heart, or when our pastor speaks on the very thing I have been grappling with all week—all ways of God speaking to us, showing us his intimate and personal love.

In the midst of that, there have been a few times in my life that I believe I have experienced the audible, unmistakable voice of God, where something heavy and thick and beautiful and unmistakable has nailed me to the floor in a life changing way. It can feel a bit wonky to say out loud, so you have no idea how hesitant I am to type it all out and mail it off. But it is rocking my world, so I include it with the prayer that it may rock yours too.
This fall I was spending time earnestly praying for a few people for a few people in our lives. Praying that God would show up powerfully in their life. That he would break the chains that kept them bound, help them see themselves the way that He sees them. That He would do something big and amazing and undeniably Him. One of my prayers was that they would really get the life changing power of the Word. One morning I woke up at 5 a.m. (and if you know me you can find the miracle in that alone :) with this amazing charge in our room and a weight on my chest. Clear as day I hear and see this phrase "You want my Word to make a difference in the life of others, but you are not allowing it to make a difference in your own life". Is that earth shattering to read? Maybe not. It was earth shattering to me in that moment though , and even today as I sit here and tell you about it.
I slammed out of bed fully awake with the vast realization that God was right! I was pleading, hoping and praying that other people would grasp onto the life changing power of the Word of God when I was unwilling to develop the study of that same Word as a discipline in my life. My entire walk as a Christian had skated by on sound bites of great teaching and study, moments of revelation that buoyed me on to the next moment coupled with the residual knowledge I had gained from a lifetime of hanging around with my parents. It was all working okay. But not enough. Not nearly enough. In that moment I was struck with how much I lacked knowing God more. At the hamster wheel my spiritual life would continue running on, if I did not choose to rearrange my life around the one desire of knowing God more.
How much I want a hunger for the voice and presence and movement of God that only gets broader the more I fill it. I want a discipline that sits down, journal in hand, bible in lap, concordance nearby and loses track of minutes, hours while I soak up all that I can of who He was, is, and is still to come. I want a faith that is strong and at the ready, that is standing and waiting saying I am here Lord! Don’t leave me out! I am ready to be used by you! Whatever you are doing don’t leave me out! I want to be prayed up, read up, studied up and stored up for the cause of Christ, that I would not have prepare to be used by God but I would live prepared for every person and situation He may send my way.

I love it. A voice in my room at the breaking of that day that is changing my life in the most amazing way. The more I am seeking Him, cultivating the discipline in my life of seeking Him, the more I find I want to. The more I read and study just opens up doors to more that I want to read and study. For the first time in my life, He is not just there when I need Him—I am aware of how much He is just there all the time, and I want to need Him more.

Don’t leave me out, Lord. I am here and ready. I am willing to do whatever it takes. Any change I would pray for you to affect in another persons life, I am willing for you to affect in mine.
May you hunger for more,

I have found it easiest for me to have my "talk" time with God when I am driving to work in the mornings and before I realize it, I am at work.

While you are having a rough patch, I would like to suggest something to you, (this is something I have started doing and it has helped pick up my spirits), Look at the people around you, at work, the grocery store, wherever you are and you most likely will see others that are having a rough patch, maybe even harder than yours and then you can stop and say "Thank you God for my blessings."


...

I am sorry you are having a rough period, but things will be better soon. When you look outside and see your children playing, tell God thank you. You don't have to spend a great deal of time praying... just a little thanks will do.

God Bless you.

Amen, what she said exactly. I have the same philosophy. :hug: and prayers to you!

Thank you all for sharing and the nice thoughts.


Thank you teathymes for sharing that...