What’s distracting you today?  To me, a distraction is a carefully plotted tactic used with the intention to derail a course of action. During war, distraction is used as a lethal weapon to gain the upper hand in battle. Warring soldiers distract visually, causing their opponent to look up from their intended plan, instilling doubt within. They also distract manually, physically causing their enemy to lose footing and pursue a different route. Soldiers can distract cognitively, planting the seed of fear so deep into the minds of their enemy, that they are paralyzed. Distractions come in variously sly forms; beginning as an unnoticeable whisper until they turn viciously into blood-curdling screams. Once the cruel cycle of distraction is complete, our warriors are consigned to oblivion – completely forgetting the very purpose of the mission they were called to.

At this very moment, all of us have been called to walk through something. For some of us, it’s stepping out of the desert and into a joyful season of victory. You have been wandering around the desert, waiting, longing to have your thirst quenched – anxious to walk through the door of triumph. Excitement grips you as you feel yourself moving into this season of wonder. For others, it’s stepping into a season of life that will forever leave scars and questions unanswered. It brings with it a sense of deep knowing that you are about to be forever changed, creating fear and the question of “why me”? You enter this season broken and weak, without understanding. Or maybe you are in a season of waiting – feeling stagnant and unmoving – longing for the Lord to make your path known. But He continually whispers to you, “Wait, Beloved, it’s coming.” So, you resign yourself to this season of waiting, longing for what He has next.

Whether your season is bringing with it joy or pain, waiting or running, there are distractions along the way that will try to deter you from what Jesus has to teach you through each season. For me, the distraction that seems to be the most constant through any and every season is the distraction of operating in my own strength. When I find myself in a season of joy, where my relationship with God is intimate and rich, I slowly forget how desperately I need Him. I fall out of the habit of having my cup filled by Him because my season of joy brings with it the distraction of complacency and comfort. I am comfortable with His blessings. I am comfortable with my “happiness”, and my need for Him shrinks in my mind. I soon find myself turning selfish and prideful, forgetting foolishly that He was the One who so graciously and undeservingly blessed me with this season of triumph. I become my own hero – forgetting that He is the only One worthy of being the hero of my story.

When I sense that I am being called to a season of painful growth – where He is calling me to trust Him without question, where He is requiring me to walk through the fear of the unknown so He can reveal within me false anchors and open wounds that need His touch – I find myself ridden with the distraction of self-preservation. It’s too painful, too scary, and it reveals too many open scars and dark corners in my heart that I become angry, pushing Him away. How dare He call me to this season of darkness and terror. What have I done to deserve this? How can He call me to walk through so much pain? My questions become angry as I fight to understand His plan. My walls go up, my selfishness turns up to max volume, and I begin walking away from Him, determined that I know best. I become an entitled shell of the woman I once was simply because I allowed the distraction of self-preservation to help me forget His deeply rooted, unchanging and upside-down love for me – despite the pain He’s called me to walk through.

Then there’s the season of waiting, which holds questions and uncertainty as I grow anxious and eager to know what He has next for me. I miss out on what He may be teaching me through this season of waiting by allowing myself to become distracted by the future. I am obsessed and consumed with having to “know” – wanting desperately to figure out where He may be leading me next. I operate outside of His timing, trying to take control of my fear of missing out. I allow the distraction of “knowing” to keep me from experiencing His desire to grow my spiritual roots deeper into the ground of His grace. 

Throughout all my seasons – the good, the joyful, the triumphant, the ugly, the seemingly shameful, the excruciating, the mundane, the waiting, the questioning, along with every season in between – I have continually fallen down on my knees, overcome with the realization that I simply cannot do it on my own. Even in seasons of joy, I caution you to avoid the thinking that He no longer serves a purpose. He greatly desires to walk through your season of victory with you, reminding you that He loves you too much to let you be your own hero. 

It’s so easy to look up from our battle plans and be enticed by our distractions. It seems easier to trust ourselves and our feelings over the One who created us, especially when we are in seasons of sorrow and pain. Jesus longs deeply to walk through the pain and fear with you and with me, wanting desperately for each of us to allow Him to be our light through our present darkness.

I have to admit – the seasons of waiting are the hardest for me to walk through. My seasons of waiting usually come after a great season of victory, where He’s caused beautiful and life-changing growth within me. Once the newness of this victory wears off, that is typically when I am called to put into practice the spiritual tool of pursuing Him. Will I continue to spend time with Him amidst the seemingly mundane? Will I learn to enjoy Him and grow when I don’t sense His presence as strongly as I did in my seasons of victory or pain? Will I choose to trust that He sits with me just as closely in my season of waiting as He did in my season of joy or pain? 

It’s in the seasons of waiting where you grow anxious and impatient, where you witness others around you stepping into their blessing while you remain in the desert of the unknown. During this time, I want to plead with you to thwart the lie that He isn’t enough. Please, friend, don’t allow this season of waiting to become all about you simply because things aren’t moving at your speed. There have been so many seasons of waiting that have been wasted on my inability to see past my own timing. I grow bored with pursuing an everyday relationship with Him. I grow bored with the mundane task of seeking Him. And anxiety and stress soon consume me. I am so distracted by wanting what He has for me immediately, that I miss out on the joy of waiting in Him. I miss out on the hugely simple ways he chooses to bless me throughout my day because I am so focused on wanting to have what’s next. If we allow it, it’s usually in those seasons of waiting where our roots grow the deepest. Because it is in these seasons of uncertainty where Jesus drives home the truth that He is enough, even in the simplest ways.

Sitting in the chaotic stillness of waiting can be the most beautiful place we encounter Jesus because it’s where we learn to experience Him amidst our most seemingly monotonous tasks. Each day can feel so routine and transactional that we forget to look for His blessings. I promise, that if you intentionally search, you’ll see traces of His love for you scattered all throughout your day. It may come in the form of a kind compliment from a coworker, or a thoughtful note from your spouse or friend. If you’re willing to admit it, I would suspect there are more of them than you probably realize simply because you’re not looking. How do I know this? Because I am insanely guilty of not having my eyes wide open, searching with insane intentionality for those blessings. Seasons of waiting have a funny way of giving us access to spiritual tools that we wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to grow in. If we allow the season of waiting to shape us the way He intends, we walk away having been taught how to intentionally look for His love. We have the opportunity to learn how to trust Him and become comfortable with the sound of His voice in our hectic everyday lives.

If we so choose, we can walk out the season of waiting diving deeper into Jesus as we learn to take Him with us throughout our day. Seasons of waiting come disguised as every day, routine, transactional, sometimes crazy, mundane life. The parts where we find ourselves just going through the motions because maybe we’ve worn ourselves too thin. The parts where we lay awake at night, sleep evading and our minds racing, where the anxieties and uncertainties we try to push out seem to find us so easily in the dark. The parts where we arrive yet again, to deal with the same people, same job, same screaming kiddos, same whatever daily and we find our minds muddled by the routine – forgetting the purpose of it all.

Friend, the purpose is this – that no matter what season of life you find yourself in today, Jesus is enough. As you lay awake at night, stress-ridden, grasping for answers that just don’t seem to come the way you want – He wants to hear about it. He wants to know about your day, what’s keeping you up at night and what causes you to keep it all to yourself. He wants the walls you build up to keep people out, and He wants the worries you carry around like weighted chains. He wants the days you feel unstoppable, on top of the world, and the days you find yourself in your lowest valley. He wants your impatience and struggle in the waiting; even the anger, sadness and frustration that may come with it. I’m not promising you that He will meet you with an immediate answer, but I can promise you this – He is with you in the waiting, He sees you in your struggle, and He’s right in the middle of your victory.

Whether you are in your season of triumph, pain or waiting, I want to challenge each of us this week to look intentionally for His blessings throughout our days. Having eyes wide open, ready to receive what He has for us, puts our purpose into perspective. If you do find yourself in a season of waiting: waiting for a diagnosis, waiting for your calling, waiting for a loved one to come home, waiting to be finished with waiting!, I encourage you to not become distracted by the lie that waiting means He’s not moving. The truth is, Jesus can only move in our seasons of waiting as much as we allow Him to. So, let’s give Jesus room to be huge, and watch Him turn your season of waiting into your most beautiful season of growth.