This year my focus has been on seeking the Lord. Of course I want to make this a lifelong practice. However, I have found that during different seasons of life, we might become negligent, and therefore we have to be more intentional about seeking God.

Why is seeking God so important? Here are just a few reasons:

• If we don’t seek God, other things will creep into our life to replace Him.
• If we don’t seek God, we will wind up doing our own thing and not His will.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t have the peace that surpasses understanding in our lives.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t be able to properly handle trials that come our way.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t have true contentment in life.
• If we don’t seek God, we might become stuck in negative patterns.
• If we don’t seek God, big decisions could cripple us.
• If we don’t seek God, we won’t learn and grow in our walk.

When it comes to seeking God, reading our Bibles and prayer are important. But there is something else that I have been trying to incorporate more and more – Being quiet and listening to God. This can be very difficult to do. We are constantly bombarded with people who need our attention, alerts on our phones, radio, television, email, social media, etc. And when we get alone and turn all those things off, we are still blasted with our own thoughts. So I thought I would share some things that I do in an attempt to hear from the Lord.

In my home, there is a place that I often go to when I want to read my Bible, pray, or just listen for His voice – my closet. My husband, and even my dogs, know that when they haven’t seen me in awhile, they can probably find me in my closet. I even do a lot of writing in there because it frees me from distractions. I am hypersensitive to various noises such as talking, typing, television, radio, etc. So when I need peace and quiet, my closet is my favorite place to go.

Another place where I go almost daily is my car. I actually can’t avoid my car, since I have to drive one hundred miles round trip Monday through Friday. But there is one particular practice that I started doing recently which I have found to be helpful in hearing from God. When I am on my lunch break at work, sometimes I will just sit in my car for ten to twenty minutes and ask God if there is anything He would like to tell me. And I often hear from Him when I do this! Also, when I am driving, sometimes I will ride with the radio turned off and try to quiet my mind.

And a third place I like to go to seek God is outdoors. I might go for a stroll around my yard, or just sit quietly in a chair. I always feel closer to God when I am out in nature, with no walls between me and the sky above.

The particular places where I go to seek God might not work for you. But the important thing is to get creative and try to carve out quiet time with God.