Stuck in the Prayer Closet

So often I struggled with keeping the Lord in the central position of my life. I would wake up in the morning and just spend time with the Lord and really draw close to Him. I would read my Bible, pray, and then get up to start my day. I always asked the Lord in my prayers to help me do His will. I would go along my merry way,

until...

well, something would always happen. One of the kids would wake up grumpy, or I remembered all the stuff I had to do, or something terrible would happen to disrupt my plans, my agenda.

I always prayed, "Lord, help me get the things done that I need to get done today." Not realizing that statement alone said it all. I really thought that I was doing God's will, (remember I said that's what I desired to do in my morning prayer?); but I soon began to realize that God was still in the prayer closet. See, when I got up in the morning I really wanted God's will for my life. I would listen and hear His will. Yet, I didn't realize that instead of taking God with me throughout the day, I in essence said "Okay God, you want me to do this today? All right, I can handle that, you just sit tight and I'll see you tonight-hopefully." I would take His will and run with it. I did things from Him and for Him, but not with Him.

So many times we can get with the Lord, hear His will, and then go out and get caught up in the day. We ask God to help us do His will, then we go out and do our own, in our timing, our way.
At night after I was worn out with all that I had to do, I would find God at my bedside still waiting for me since the morning.

I would like to challenge you, as well as myself, to focus on the Lord throughout the day. Don't leave God stuck in the prayer closet. Put down your agenda and focus on His agenda, in His timing. Often, we are doing God's will, but not in the timing or way that He intended, sometimes He wants us to drop everything and be flexible enough to do something else for that day. We cannot be effective in doing God's will if we are not doing His will, through Him. Keep the Lord at the center of your thoughts. When you find yourself veering away, stop and refocus on the Lord. Let us become virtuous maidens whose hearts are continually on the Lord!