Protection VS Distraction

Ever feel distracted?!  I do!  Have you ever been busy doing something, only to realize an hour later that you got distracted from what you really meant to do?  Yep, me too!  Not only do we get distracted doing day-to-day stuff, but what I really want to talk about is that we get distracted from our vision a lot of times too.  What is your vision for your family?  If you aren't married, what is your vision for the family you will have?  It's important to get a vision!  Where do you get one?  From God himself!!  I have often gotten distracted from mine.  I get so busy making sure the house is decent and the family is fed and the appointments are kept, and then all of a sudden I look up and remember that there is a REASON I'm doing all of these things!  If I ever get sulky and think, "Poor me... the kids won't cooperate..." "Poor me... I never get appreciated for anything I do..."  "Poor me... I could have been a great, famous singer, but here I sit and these children are taking up all my time..."  WHOA THERE.... STOP the PRESS!!!  Shelly Bradberry, The INNKEEPER gets distracted with negative thoughts?!  Before I even realize it, I have bought into the lies... and I'm letting my guard down.  I'm not paying attention to what my job really is... I'm certainly not paying attention to how important it is!!  I have lost my vision.  I have stopped building a wall of protection for my precious kids.  Protection through prayer, protection through teaching them the Word, protection from the enemy, protection from a negative-thinking mommy!!!  Nehemiah 6:3 says, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”  You remember Nehemiah... he kept charge of rebuilding the wall!  I would have never associated his job with mine until I heard this scripture at a ladies retreat this past April that I try to attend yearly.  I now have this plastered in my mind.  Don't go "down"... Nehemiah didn't.  The folks who wanted him to leave his post, intended to harm him.  He did not get distracted.... He was doing a GREAT WORK!!!  Why should the work cease while you spend time muddling in self-pity?  Does Satan deserve that time from you?!  NO!!!!  Protect your family from him... Build that wall!  I'm not talking about keeping them away and secluded from everyone and everything!  I'm talking about building a wall of spiritual strength around them, so that when they come in contact with the world's ways, they will see right through it and know how to handle it.  That's one of my prayers... That's a piece of the vision I'm sharing today...

From our family to you and yours!