The 7 Experience

God has been working on me the last 6 months in recognizing my over indulgence and need to self gratify.  With this said, our church has began the book 7, by Jen Hatmaker.  The book focuses on 7 excesses of life and works on one topic a month for 7 months.  We as a church have decided to do media first.

For Media we are allowing 1 1/2 hours of screen time a week.  I have turned off the radio and music in my car, and am only listening to music for 30 minutes a day.  I am checking email once a day and trying to set my phone down.  Emma is not texting this month.  She is only going to call her friends, this will hopefully be a time that she can learn to better communicate with her friends.  Brett will have to be on the computer all day, but will stick strictly to work.


Day 1
The first day we spent outside after church, when the girls came in, that is when it hit!  Full House or Cosby, but no: they had picked out a card game that we were all able to play.  What a blessing!  I have to confess, I was really in the mood to zone out to Cosby, but it was so much fun once the game began!

Day 2
Realizing how often I check email on my phone!  It is hard to wait to check it, but God is showing me that all the messages can wait 24 hours.  The urgency to check and respond is still there.  I am praying that the urgency will die down.

Day 3
I am beginning to notice how much I use music to occupy my mind.  This is the first day that I have used the 30 minutes of music that I have allowed.  I set the alarm so I would realize when the 3o minutes was up.  I am calling on God more, my run was great time with God, instead of His music.
It's funny how when the house is quiet, I want to turn the TV on or get on the internet or listen to music.  By shutting down some of our media it is allowing conversation with God to creep in to these quiet places.  I haven't noticed more reading time, because I am interacting and playing with the kids more.
The news at night has been silenced!  Wow, I have more time with my husband.  I am loving media month.  I am definitely not a media buff, but the noise of the media has been shutting off time with my kids, husband and God!
It is hard!  I am definitely a replacer, so I have to keep asking God for the strength to rely on Him and not something else.... Like shopping, snacking, coffee, and oh how tempting to check on blogs I haven't checked on in months!!!!

Thoughts are jumbled, I just wanted to get it down and not spend to much time.  Finding Time With HIM!!!!