April 24, 2024 • 14 mins
Have you ever felt the weight of your possessions taking up physical and mental space to distract you from pursuing your calling? Join me, Stephanie, as I reveal the transformation that unfolded when I cleared out a space for my prayer closet, inviting a deeper connection with the divine. Our latest heart-to-heart dissects the poignant message of 1 John 2:15-17, shedding light on the traps of materialism and the overshadowing of our faith by worldly distractions. Together, we tackle the tough questions about what really holds value in our lives and how the love for the ephemeral can lead us astray from a fulfilling spiritual journey. I invite you to reflect on your own life and consider whether the spaces you inhabit are nurturing your faith or cluttering your mind.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with episode
number 105 of Giving your BestLife, and I'm diving into part
two of navigating life'sdistractions.
So if you missed part one, goback to episode 102 and that'll
give you kind of a good basisfor where I'm coming at with
(00:24):
this episode.
And I want to jump right in.
So the last time I gave you twoverses to look into 1
Corinthians, 10, 12 through 13,and then Luke 10, 38 through 42.
In this episode we are going toturn our Bibles to 1 John, 2,
(00:46):
15 through 17.
And it reads Do not love theworld or the things in the world
.
If anyone loves the world, thelove of the Father is not in him
, because all that is in theworld and then this is in
parentheses the desire of theflesh and the desire of the eyes
and the arrogance produced bymaterial possessions is not from
(01:08):
the Father but is from theworld.
And the world is passing awaywith all its desires, but the
person who does the will of Godremains forever.
As I was preparing for this, Iwas actually sitting in my
prayer closet and I have not hada prayer closet for that long
(01:31):
maybe a couple of months, ifthat Um, but I really, really
felt compelled to clear out acloset and put paper up on the
walls.
That's how I've done it.
I've seen a lot of people do itin different ways, but I've got
paper and, um, you know, andthen I just sit in there and
pray.
I write on those walls uh,prayers, prayers for people,
(01:53):
prayers for forgiveness.
Um, just what a lot of timesI'm sitting, being still and
just listening to what God hasto say.
And one of the first thingsthat and that's really what has
driven this whole topic ondistraction was around things
(02:15):
because we cannot have a prayercloset.
Many people I know can't have aprayer closet because their
closets are full of things.
They don't have any room, it'sfull of stuff.
And if we go back to that verse,it talks about things of the
(02:35):
world, material possessions.
All these things that arefilling our closets, filling our
homes, how we spend our money,is a distraction.
All of it is a distraction forwhat God is calling us to do.
Now, I'm not saying that booksand things in your life aren't
(02:57):
like.
You can't have them.
Hello, I probably have athousand books in my house, but,
being a former professionalorganizer, I would still
consider myself a professionalorganizer, I could go into
anybody's home and help them.
Today I'm just not living as aprofessional organizer, but what
(03:20):
I have found is when your home,your space, space, your
environment is full of stuff andclutter, it is a distraction,
it prevents you from doing a lotof things in life and, at the
end of the day, giving your bestlife is all about doing what
(03:44):
God has called you to do, likegetting getting your life in
order, having your foundation infaith and pursuing the calling
that God has had on your life.
And if you are distracted bystuff and material things and I
fully believe after being aprofessional organizer for 10
(04:06):
years is that your physicalclutter causes a lot of mental
clutter, a lot of anxiety, a lotof other problems.
That is more than just thephysical clutter, and so one of
the things that I am going tochallenge you to do is get real
(04:31):
about two things.
One is taking an inventory ofyour environment and going are
the walls closing in?
Are my closets full?
Do I have a bunch of stuff thatI don't use anymore?
(04:51):
Is not serving a purpose, is adistraction for me, is mentally
cluttering my mind and I don'thave space to one?
Have a prayer closet where it'sjust maybe you have a closet
that's just full of junk.
I have so many homes, just saidjunk closets, Like people would
(05:14):
say I don't even know what's inthere.
And I'm not talking aboutpeople who are like, hey, I live
in an apartment or hey, I havea little house and I have like
three closets and it's got, youknow, things I need and use.
I'm not talking about that, butI would say a significant
portion of America, me includedis there a space in your homes
(05:36):
that could be cleared out for aprayer closet?
Let's think about this, folks.
What are our priorities in lifeand our faith?
Our faith should be our numberone priority in our life being
in communion, making time,making space to have
conversations with our heavenlyfather.
(05:59):
I'm not saying you have to havea prayer closet, but it has been
life changing and it is kind ofthis.
That's what really got methinking about, like the clutter
and the priority that we put onthings versus, you know, this
quiet space where we go to theLord and we can have
(06:21):
conversation and we can cry andcall out to him.
This hidden space, I don't know.
So that was just something thathit me.
I don't know.
I feel like it was God sayinglike, hey, we don't have prayer
closets in our homes becausethey're full of stuff, and stuff
is a distraction.
It's also how we spend, and wewaste a lot, a lot of money on
(06:45):
this stuff.
I also think about stuff is,even if I look at my desk, which
is a constant battle, justbecause I'm a professional
organizer, my desk is a constantresemblance.
I always say of my mind andwhat's in my mind.
But what I found is it isreally hard for me to write or
(07:06):
that's the story I tell myselfif my desk is a mess and if it
is full of clutter, I actuallynow force myself not to allow
myself to get organized before Iwrite.
If I have scheduled writing onmy calendar and my desk is a
mess, guess what I am going tohave to write with a messy desk.
(07:27):
Because what I found is, again,that can be a distraction.
Cleaning, organizing, clearingour clutter, making space, just
right.
That can be a distraction ofdoing sitting down and doing
what God has called us to do orwhatever activity we might be
(07:50):
supposed to be doing.
That is moving forward on agoal or something that you are
called to do the other thing too.
Last time we talked a bit aboutour phones, what's on the phones
, and I will tell you this willbe really, really difficult, but
I have done this.
(08:11):
I actually just canceledNetflix, and not that I was a
big, big consumer of Netflix,but I would find every once in a
while, if I wanted to avoiddoing something is I would pull
up a documentary.
I love documentaries.
I can kind of get obsessed withit Everest or stories of people
(08:33):
who've done challenging things,pushing themselves mentally,
and so I just canceled Netflix.
I was like it is a distractionin my life.
I don't need it, and so I wantyou to.
Here's something actionablethat you can take is go through
your phone, look at apps thatare a distraction.
(08:54):
The other thing that you can dois and I don't know if Androids
are like this or Google phones,but with an iPhone is, you can
actually see how much timeyou're spending on your phone
and what apps you're spendingtime on.
So I challenge you Sometimes welie to ourselves included me of
, oh, I'm not spending that muchtime on my phone, and then I go
(09:15):
pull up to see how much timeI'm spending on my phone.
I'm like, oh my gosh, um, overover time, I've deleted social
media apps and then I would justreload them if I want to post,
just so I couldn't, like, justby habit, click on them.
Um, I saw John Acuff.
He's someone that that I follow, an author.
(09:36):
I really love him, you know.
He posted the other day, Ithink in his week he spent 11
hours on Instagram.
11 hours.
And it's like oh my gosh, whatcan you do with 11 hours?
And I'm not like that isn't adig on John.
I appreciated him for beinghonest.
But it's like, a lot of times wesay we don't have time to do
(09:57):
what God is calling us to do,like, oh, I'll do that when I
retire, I'll do that when fillin the blank.
And it's like, no, if you havepriorities in our life of what
we should be doing, how you'respending our time, then 11, like
, if we're spending 11 hours ona social media app, then then we
(10:18):
do have time in our lives.
Um, I want to wrap up with likehow?
So I've kind of given you, youknow, um, some tips, um, oh,
there's one more thing Sorry, Ijust saw this in my notes that I
wanted to say of distractions.
This is.
This came to me during prayertime also is excuses can be a
(10:42):
distraction.
So I hear it all the time.
In coaching, which my clientsI'll like coach the excuse out
of you, because excuses arereally, I think, a mindset and
you have to start to change yourmindset.
You have to.
A lot of times we don't evenacknowledge the excuses that
(11:03):
we're making because we've beenmaking them for so long.
And in coaching, it's reallyhard to make excuses because
when you start to talk about whyyou're not doing X, y and Z, me
as your coach is going to callyou out and say, hey, is that
reality, is that an excuse?
And then, if we figure out likeit is an excuse, we may be able
(11:25):
to dig a little bit deeper intothat.
But what I want to say is becognizant of the excuses that
you're making.
So the one that we just touchedon was the time.
I don't have any time to do X,y and Z.
I don't have any space in myhome to have a prayer closet.
Well, really, check yourselfand go.
(11:46):
Is that true?
Do I really not have any time?
And then you know, pull up yourphone and see how much time
you've spent on Netflix orsocial media app or whatever.
Maybe it's zero, maybe youhaven't spent any time, that's
fine.
That's actually awesome,amazing.
If you pull up your phone andit's zeros, please let me know.
And let me know how you do thatSame with like the clutter in
(12:08):
the closet.
So, anyways, that's justsomething to be cognizant of.
To start to think about is theexcuses that you're making in
your life.
So I want to wrap up with justa couple of tips.
Pick one of these.
Start somewhere.
If you're like Stephanie, Ireally God is calling me to do X
(12:29):
, y and Z, but I am verydistracted.
I am all over the place.
Um, but I am very distracted, Iam all over the place.
One, start with prayer.
You know, lord, show me what mybiggest distraction is, how I'm
avoiding doing what you'recalling me to do.
And then two is be patient andlisten to see what is revealed.
(12:49):
What has God told you.
And then three is take actionon that.
So that might be deleting anapp on your phone.
It might be getting organized,getting rid of stuff in your
(13:10):
house.
It might be putting your phone.
Last episode we talked aboutlike taking your phone and
moving it somewhere else,creating boundaries around your
phone and the other thing, too,that, as I was in my prayer time
, is, you know, god really justsaying strip away the things
that you don't need.
(13:30):
And if you look at those thingsis strip away what's on your
phone that you don't need.
Strip away what's on your phonethat you don't need.
Strip away the things in yourhome that you don't need.
Strip away the things that aresucking the time and the life
out of you, um, from you know,following the path that God has
lead, leading you, and, um, youknow the calling that he has on
(13:52):
your life.
So I want to wrap up theretoday.
Hopefully, this part two isgoing to help you lessen the
distractions.
Part three will be coming upand it'll be about people who
distract you in your life andwhat do you do about it.
So, friends, this is justanother episode of how you get
(14:16):
to giving your best life.
Hey friends, it's Stephanie here with episode
number 105 of Giving your BestLife, and I'm diving into part
two of navigating life'sdistractions.
So if you missed part one, goback to episode 102 and that'll
give you kind of a good basisfor where I'm coming at with
(00:24):
this episode.
And I want to jump right in.
So the last time I gave you twoverses to look into 1
Corinthians, 10, 12 through 13,and then Luke 10, 38 through 42.
In this episode we are going toturn our Bibles to 1 John, 2,
(00:46):
15 through 17.
And it reads Do not love theworld or the things in the world
.
If anyone loves the world, thelove of the Father is not in him
, because all that is in theworld and then this is in
parentheses the desire of theflesh and the desire of the eyes
and the arrogance produced bymaterial possessions is not from
(01:08):
the Father but is from theworld.
And the world is passing awaywith all its desires, but the
person who does the will of Godremains forever.
As I was preparing for this, Iwas actually sitting in my
prayer closet and I have not hada prayer closet for that long
(01:31):
maybe a couple of months, ifthat Um, but I really, really
felt compelled to clear out acloset and put paper up on the
walls.
That's how I've done it.
I've seen a lot of people do itin different ways, but I've got
paper and, um, you know, andthen I just sit in there and
pray.
I write on those walls uh,prayers, prayers for people,
(01:53):
prayers for forgiveness.
Um, just what a lot of timesI'm sitting, being still and
just listening to what God hasto say.
And one of the first thingsthat and that's really what has
driven this whole topic ondistraction was around things
(02:15):
because we cannot have a prayercloset.
Many people I know can't have aprayer closet because their
closets are full of things.
They don't have any room, it'sfull of stuff.
And if we go back to that verse,it talks about things of the
(02:35):
world, material possessions.
All these things that arefilling our closets, filling our
homes, how we spend our money,is a distraction.
All of it is a distraction forwhat God is calling us to do.
Now, I'm not saying that booksand things in your life aren't
(02:57):
like.
You can't have them.
Hello, I probably have athousand books in my house, but,
being a former professionalorganizer, I would still
consider myself a professionalorganizer, I could go into
anybody's home and help them.
Today I'm just not living as aprofessional organizer, but what
(03:20):
I have found is when your home,your space, space, your
environment is full of stuff andclutter, it is a distraction,
it prevents you from doing a lotof things in life and, at the
end of the day, giving your bestlife is all about doing what
(03:44):
God has called you to do, likegetting getting your life in
order, having your foundation infaith and pursuing the calling
that God has had on your life.
And if you are distracted bystuff and material things and I
fully believe after being aprofessional organizer for 10
(04:06):
years is that your physicalclutter causes a lot of mental
clutter, a lot of anxiety, a lotof other problems.
That is more than just thephysical clutter, and so one of
the things that I am going tochallenge you to do is get real
(04:31):
about two things.
One is taking an inventory ofyour environment and going are
the walls closing in?
Are my closets full?
Do I have a bunch of stuff thatI don't use anymore?
(04:51):
Is not serving a purpose, is adistraction for me, is mentally
cluttering my mind and I don'thave space to one?
Have a prayer closet where it'sjust maybe you have a closet
that's just full of junk.
I have so many homes, just saidjunk closets, Like people would
(05:14):
say I don't even know what's inthere.
And I'm not talking aboutpeople who are like, hey, I live
in an apartment or hey, I havea little house and I have like
three closets and it's got, youknow, things I need and use.
I'm not talking about that, butI would say a significant
portion of America, me includedis there a space in your homes
(05:36):
that could be cleared out for aprayer closet?
Let's think about this, folks.
What are our priorities in lifeand our faith?
Our faith should be our numberone priority in our life being
in communion, making time,making space to have
conversations with our heavenlyfather.
(05:59):
I'm not saying you have to havea prayer closet, but it has been
life changing and it is kind ofthis.
That's what really got methinking about, like the clutter
and the priority that we put onthings versus, you know, this
quiet space where we go to theLord and we can have
(06:21):
conversation and we can cry andcall out to him.
This hidden space, I don't know.
So that was just something thathit me.
I don't know.
I feel like it was God sayinglike, hey, we don't have prayer
closets in our homes becausethey're full of stuff, and stuff
is a distraction.
It's also how we spend, and wewaste a lot, a lot of money on
(06:45):
this stuff.
I also think about stuff is,even if I look at my desk, which
is a constant battle, justbecause I'm a professional
organizer, my desk is a constantresemblance.
I always say of my mind andwhat's in my mind.
But what I found is it isreally hard for me to write or
(07:06):
that's the story I tell myselfif my desk is a mess and if it
is full of clutter, I actuallynow force myself not to allow
myself to get organized before Iwrite.
If I have scheduled writing onmy calendar and my desk is a
mess, guess what I am going tohave to write with a messy desk.
(07:27):
Because what I found is, again,that can be a distraction.
Cleaning, organizing, clearingour clutter, making space, just
right.
That can be a distraction ofdoing sitting down and doing
what God has called us to do orwhatever activity we might be
(07:50):
supposed to be doing.
That is moving forward on agoal or something that you are
called to do the other thing too.
Last time we talked a bit aboutour phones, what's on the phones
, and I will tell you this willbe really, really difficult, but
I have done this.
(08:11):
I actually just canceledNetflix, and not that I was a
big, big consumer of Netflix,but I would find every once in a
while, if I wanted to avoiddoing something is I would pull
up a documentary.
I love documentaries.
I can kind of get obsessed withit Everest or stories of people
(08:33):
who've done challenging things,pushing themselves mentally,
and so I just canceled Netflix.
I was like it is a distractionin my life.
I don't need it, and so I wantyou to.
Here's something actionablethat you can take is go through
your phone, look at apps thatare a distraction.
(08:54):
The other thing that you can dois and I don't know if Androids
are like this or Google phones,but with an iPhone is, you can
actually see how much timeyou're spending on your phone
and what apps you're spendingtime on.
So I challenge you Sometimes welie to ourselves included me of
, oh, I'm not spending that muchtime on my phone, and then I go
(09:15):
pull up to see how much timeI'm spending on my phone.
I'm like, oh my gosh, um, overover time, I've deleted social
media apps and then I would justreload them if I want to post,
just so I couldn't, like, justby habit, click on them.
Um, I saw John Acuff.
He's someone that that I follow, an author.
(09:36):
I really love him, you know.
He posted the other day, Ithink in his week he spent 11
hours on Instagram.
11 hours.
And it's like oh my gosh, whatcan you do with 11 hours?
And I'm not like that isn't adig on John.
I appreciated him for beinghonest.
But it's like, a lot of times wesay we don't have time to do
(09:57):
what God is calling us to do,like, oh, I'll do that when I
retire, I'll do that when fillin the blank.
And it's like, no, if you havepriorities in our life of what
we should be doing, how you'respending our time, then 11, like
, if we're spending 11 hours ona social media app, then then we
(10:18):
do have time in our lives.
Um, I want to wrap up with likehow?
So I've kind of given you, youknow, um, some tips, um, oh,
there's one more thing Sorry, Ijust saw this in my notes that I
wanted to say of distractions.
This is.
This came to me during prayertime also is excuses can be a
(10:42):
distraction.
So I hear it all the time.
In coaching, which my clientsI'll like coach the excuse out
of you, because excuses arereally, I think, a mindset and
you have to start to change yourmindset.
You have to.
A lot of times we don't evenacknowledge the excuses that
(11:03):
we're making because we've beenmaking them for so long.
And in coaching, it's reallyhard to make excuses because
when you start to talk about whyyou're not doing X, y and Z, me
as your coach is going to callyou out and say, hey, is that
reality, is that an excuse?
And then, if we figure out likeit is an excuse, we may be able
(11:25):
to dig a little bit deeper intothat.
But what I want to say is becognizant of the excuses that
you're making.
So the one that we just touchedon was the time.
I don't have any time to do X,y and Z.
I don't have any space in myhome to have a prayer closet.
Well, really, check yourselfand go.
(11:46):
Is that true?
Do I really not have any time?
And then you know, pull up yourphone and see how much time
you've spent on Netflix orsocial media app or whatever.
Maybe it's zero, maybe youhaven't spent any time, that's
fine.
That's actually awesome,amazing.
If you pull up your phone andit's zeros, please let me know.
And let me know how you do thatSame with like the clutter in
(12:08):
the closet.
So, anyways, that's justsomething to be cognizant of.
To start to think about is theexcuses that you're making in
your life.
So I want to wrap up with justa couple of tips.
Pick one of these.
Start somewhere.
If you're like Stephanie, Ireally God is calling me to do X
(12:29):
, y and Z, but I am verydistracted.
I am all over the place.
Um, but I am very distracted, Iam all over the place.
One, start with prayer.
You know, lord, show me what mybiggest distraction is, how I'm
avoiding doing what you'recalling me to do.
And then two is be patient andlisten to see what is revealed.
(12:49):
What has God told you.
And then three is take actionon that.
So that might be deleting anapp on your phone.
It might be getting organized,getting rid of stuff in your
(13:10):
house.
It might be putting your phone.
Last episode we talked aboutlike taking your phone and
moving it somewhere else,creating boundaries around your
phone and the other thing, too,that, as I was in my prayer time
, is, you know, god really justsaying strip away the things
that you don't need.
(13:30):
And if you look at those thingsis strip away what's on your
phone that you don't need.
Strip away what's on your phonethat you don't need.
Strip away the things in yourhome that you don't need.
Strip away the things that aresucking the time and the life
out of you, um, from you know,following the path that God has
lead, leading you, and, um, youknow the calling that he has on
(13:52):
your life.
So I want to wrap up theretoday.
Hopefully, this part two isgoing to help you lessen the
distractions.
Part three will be coming upand it'll be about people who
distract you in your life andwhat do you do about it.
So, friends, this is justanother episode of how you get
(14:16):
to giving your best life.
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