30 days ago, the Lord told me to put my phone down for 30 days. I want to share what I learned, what I thought, how it went, and some other tidbit, quotes, and activities from doing other things without my phone.

Endurance is patience in difficult circumstances.
Gentleness is patience with difficult people.

John Stott

The first thing that happened when I put my phone down is I stopped getting headaches from looking at my phone. I didn’t even realize how bad it was.

---

When I wanted to check out online life, I would go to my computer. I heard the “ice queen” (that judgmental voice inside my head) say, “You can’t sit at the computer because you are just substituting it for my phone.” Where do these fake rules come from? God said, “Put your phone down, not don’t use your computer.” Obedience is simple. No wonder Jesus said in Mark 7 this:

⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
⁷ They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’

⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

⁹ And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!

---

I heard an attitude in my heart; it’s this sense that I only do the bare minimum that is required because I just can’t handle a lot.

Where do we get this stuff? That statement is not even true. You have to pay attention to the things you mind, and heart just come up with.

I prayed and asked the Lord about it and why did my thoughts say that. He said, “It’s your attitude toward what is happening, that is the issue.” I am the only one that can control my attitude. Its a choice. I can actually handle a lot.

Knowledge without action is pride in disguise.

unknown

At about 13 days that I put my phone down – I felt like I was recalibrating my habits without a whole lot of effort. It is so interesting how small things can change everything.

One day, I was asked to look for a place for us to have thanksgiving dinner. Our usual place is not available. So, I grabbed my phone because I was not home and I looked for a few minutes. 10 mins passed and I decided I was done looking. When I looked up my eyesight was blurry, and I had a slight headache. I definitely do not miss that.

At day 17, I added 10 mins of silence in the morning through to the end of 30 days.

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.
Where can you get this living water?”

John 4:11

I asked the Lord to stir up the deep wells in me. I held out my hands. I heard the Lord say, “I give you my joy. I give you my peace.” I felt overcome with the being loved as a daughter.

Truth — actual knowledge about reality.
To dwell is to see things as they are.

Evangeline Gray

Being willing to try something — 30 days of putting your phone down, 40 days of prayer, 30 days of gratitude, 10 mins of sitting still in silence a day. When we decide that we are going to try something for a set period of time, even imperfectly, we become more curious, develop an experimental mindset and learn from succeeding and from failure.

These thirty days taught me that obedience doesn’t have to be complicated. God isn’t asking for perfection — He’s asking for attention. When we lay down the things that distract us, we find out how much more alive, aware, and available we are to His voice.

The world tells us to add more, do more, be more — but sometimes God just says, “Put it down.” And in the quiet that follows, we discover that what He really want all along was our heart.

Thanks for Listening,

Starla