Day 2 - Distraction

I had many calls and comments about if I was fasting from all food for 21 days. That is not what I chose to do for the fast. I will be working and did not even want to try to go without food that long and continue to work. The neat thing about a fast is that it's not really important WHAT you fast, I believe the important thing is setting aside time to focus on God. I chose to fast from sleep. I'll explain. Mike gets up between 4:20 and 4:30 to get ready for work. I do not. I get to stay in my warm bed for another hour or hour and a half. So I chose to give up that sleepy time to focus on God. The hard part for me so far (yes, this is only day 2) has not been getting up, but the focus part. I realize how hard it is for me to keep this time with just the focus on God. For example, this morning I get up, sit down at my chair and begin to pray for this time for me to be able to hear or feel God. All I felt was the dog rubbing up against my leg to go outside. So I continue to pray and let God know this is His time and I am focusing on him...as I am walking outside to put the dog in the fence. I sit back down to continue "God's time" and I realized I did not turn the dishwasher on  last night so there will be no cereal bowls for the kids. Shoot. So I continue to pray for "focus" as I am putting the dish detergent into the dishwasher. I come back to my chair and hear Max scratching at the door to come inside....can't a dog sit outside in 19 degree weather for 10 minutes? The answer is NO. So the FOCUS has been the real issue. It can be very challenging to put everything aside and listen to God.

I finally was able to look at the daily devotional that is on the awake21.org website. Today's verse is from John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me." The suggested reading was Genesis Ch. 8. The first sentence stuck out so much to me, "But God remembered Noah...".  Imagine being in a storm for months, not knowing when the storm will end or when you will be able to get out. Imagine how rough it was for Noah and his family. All those animals! I just have one dog to keep me distracted, imagine all the animals that would have kept Noah distracted. And the smell in the ark!! Yuk. I think the hardest part would be the not knowing when it would end. I have gone through things in live and questioned God and questioned if He even hears me. But His word says he does. Got remembered Noah and He remembers us in our storms also. Someone remind me of that the next "storm" I am going through. It's easy for me right now to think about that because things are calm. But I will need a reminder during the next storm.