Mastering Focus: Your Guide to Eliminating Distractions and Prioritizing What Matters w/ Katie Westenberg

In a world filled with distractions, it's easy to feel like our attention is being pulled in many different directions. Have you ever found yourself engrossed in your phone, only to realize you've missed a meaningful moment with someone you love? Join us in this episode as we explore the challenges of distractions. Katie Westenberg and Mentor Mama share personal insights and practical tips to help us reclaim our focus and live more intentionally, keeping the focus where it matters most: God and His nearness.

• The Ever-Present Distractions: Ever feel like distractions are invading our pockets and wrists, robbing us of precious moments? We get it. We've all been there. Distractions have always existed, but the accessibility and proximity have changed, challenging our ability to combat them effectively.
• The Distraction Within Us: Our minds are wired to be easily distracted, but the real issue arises when distractions settle into our hearts. Distractions not only affect surface-level focus but can permeate our hearts, making us lose sight of our true purpose.
• Recognizing the Tipping Point: As a mom of teenagers, Katie shares her tipping point when she realized distractions weren't just a personal struggle but something she needed to navigate for her children.
• Distinguishing Interruptions from Distractions: Jesus saw people as the real ministry, not interruptions. Katie explores the difference between being annoyed by distractions and embracing interruptions as opportunities for connection. 

If you've ever struggled to maintain focus in your daily life, this episode is for you. Join us on this journey of being un-distractible. Don't miss out—hit play now and let's navigate distractions together!

Book: But Then She Remembered
ESV Wide Margin Bible
Blue Letter Bible

Transcript

Mentor Mama 

Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible Time podcast for those that may be listening for the first time, our podcast is an offshoot from our main platform, YouTube. Our channel is called Coffee and Bible and Bible Time, where our goal is to help people delight in God's word and thrive in Christian living. We also have a website and storefront with Bible studies, prayer journals, courses and more. I'm Mentor Mama and today we're going to be talking about the cost of Christians living in a distracting world and how to give God our full attention. You know, we're all aware that we're living in a world full of distractions. We are so busy. Our calendars are so full that we can't possibly fit in one more thing. And then when time is available on our calendars, we tend to be distracted by our phones and so much more. These kinds of distractions are leaving us feeling discontent. But beyond the concerns for our feelings are the greater cost of living. Distracted lives such as fully focusing on God and his word. You know, God gave us hearts that long to be found in relationship with our creator. Loving him with all our heart and soul, mind and strength. So how do we get back to choosing to love God with our whole minds in a world full of distractions? Well, our guest today Katie Westenberg is here to share her book, “But Then She Remembered,” which will help steer us back on the path to a deep and focused connection to the Lord by remembering. Katie Westenberg is first a follower of Christ, a wife and a mom growing faithfully alongside her four home schooled children. She believes boldly in the transformative power of faith in Jesus Christ as an author and speaker. She teaches women to grow a robust theology of who God is, become students of Scripture and learn to live that truth out with courage. She serves A thriving community of women at katiewestenberg.com and makes her home in the lovely Pacific Northwest. Please welcome Katie. Katie, it's such a joy to have you back with us. Thank you for being on the Coffee and Bible Time podcast. 

Katie Westenberg 

Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here. 

Mentor Mama 

So we're talking about distractions. Why does it feel like there are just more distractions than ever before? 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, it certainly does. I think there have always been distractions when we look back over history, they've kind of changed but I think you know we could have used the newspaper back in the day to be a barrier between us and someone else between us in a conversation we need to be having. There's always been methods of escape and whether they're physical or they're mental. Just our minds are made in a certain way because of our nature that they can be distracted, but I do think the distractions have moved closer than ever before, right? They're in our pocket. They're on our wrist. And so our ability to fight those is different and maybe our habits of fighting those is different because we haven't had them in that manner before. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, sure. Every generation, I'm sure has had their own types of distractions. One of the things that you talked about in the book are the real costs of living a distracted life. So tell us about, you know, what we stand to lose when we're just comfortable living in this way of being distracted. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, and I think to a certain extent, we're aware that that the distractions are there, but the cost comes beyond the surface. So I could get a little vibration on my wrist and be talking to you, but also looking away and kind of distracted in the moment. And so maybe I lose a moment with you, maybe I lose a moment of focus. But when the distractions go beyond that and they settle into our heart, when I have a heart that can't stay focused on what I believe to be true. So, not just the service, not just the text, not just the news feeds coming in, but when it's a heart that is prone to wander as we have, right. And it's distracted by the news of this world by political issues, by Foreign Relations, by what's going on with my kids and in that. I lose sight of what God has created and called me to do. Then it becomes a bigger issue right on beyond the surface issues. But it's a distracted heart that is the real risk in all of this. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, and that can have a lot of unintended consequences. How about for you? When did your distractions just become so apparent, and how did you begin to overcome them? 

Katie Westenberg 

I think they're a feverish pitch in the background for all of us, right. So all of a sudden, yes, our phones do take more of our time. I'm noticing them all the time or the access to information just in general, whether that's news sources or social feeds or any of that. It's like never before. We have so many outlets and resources and I want to say on the other hand that they're actually good tools too. I couldn't be communicating with you if it weren't for technology working the way it does. It's great that we get to find out and communicate with people across the world. There's a lot of benefits to that, but that there's some negative side effects that I think we all feel. And for me, when it really started to mount was when it didn't just apply to me, but to my children. So I'm a mom of four and three of those kids are teenagers, so not too many years ago when they were pre teens, I started to think of how am I going to lead my kids in this? Well, if I haven't necessarily figured it out for myself, because this isn't something I had as a kid. I didn't grow up with a phone in my pocket. I didn't get a phone till I went to college. And it’s a different world that we live in now. So that was really the the tipping point for me thinking if how am I going to steward this well and lead them to do that. 

Mentor Mama 

So I imagine you know early on, let's say, you know you're in college and you had your phone. It's very exciting, right in the beginning and you're not even realizing that it's kind of eating away at other things in your life. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, yeah. And you know, I mean, it didn't even at that point because we didn't have texting then and then it was the texting where you had to hit the numbers several times, like it just wasn't easy. The ease of use wasn't there, so the temptation wasn't there. It wasn't until I, you know, was married and had kids that I noticed. Yeah, that that this access, it was exciting at first. I would definitely say that and it was ease of communication. When I talked to my kids about this they are like how did you get along without a cell phone? Years ago, you know, how did you contact someone once they left the house. And I said you didn't. You know, if you went to the store and you didn't tell them one last thing to get, you had to come back. And so yeah, there's some real efficiencies that have been created by that. But then yes, we're looking at those offsetting costs. OK. What is that costing us? And then even greater when we are called to have an undecided heart that fears The Lord when we are called to love him with our heart, soul, mind and strength, you know, are some of these things inhibiting my ability to do that and. If so, what do I do? 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, absolutely. You know in one of the later chapters in your book, you said something that really caught my attention. You said for Jesus, people were never an interruption from the real work of ministry. They were the real ministry. So help us set the record straight on the difference between an interruption and a distraction, and why it's important to distinguish. 

Katie Westenberg 

I noticed that in my own life because my distractions, you know, they just kind of happen. I can be on my phone with a good purpose in mind. I'm looking at the recipe for dinner. Right. I have, you know, there's all kinds of good works we do on our phone and things. So I'm on there and doing that. And then all of a sudden, something else comes in, and then I'm scrolling on something else. And now I'm looking at someone else's new house paint colors and it's you kind of wonder, how did I even get here? And I'm content in my distractions. We can while away minutes, maybe even hours right on our phones, but when someone interrupts me, that's when I tend to get annoyed. Right. Well, wait a minute. I'm doing something here that's very important so I know that I'm annoyed by my interruptions and I'm not quite as annoyed by my distractions. I can happily pilfer away time and not really give notice it to it, so that really caused me to look at Scripture. Was Jesus ever interrupted, like was he? Does he? Did he ever deal with this? And as a mom I have 4 kids still at home. Interruptions happen all the time. You know, I have good work I want to do. And man, these kids need something and they need it now. Even the teenagers, right. It's when they need help a lot of times they're more independent, but when they need help, it's they need help right now. And that's when I tend to get a little annoyed. I notice that this is like the tension in my in my spirit. Like I don't really want to be doing this right now because I need to get this done. And it extends so far beyond the walls of our home. It's other people in our life who have needs right now, and they converge on our space. And we really want to get things done. And it's those interruptions that frustrate us. But when we look at the life of Jesus. He was interrupted continually. He had people coming up to him all the time. He'd cross on over to the other shore and the people would run around to meet him there, with which as a mom, it makes me think, man, like, can't you just ever get a break? But he really saw that as the work. That was the ministry, right? That was what he was there to do was have compassion on the people in front of him. That was that was enlightening to me. Thinking, OK, I can while away time and that's just kind of more selfish focused, right. I'm not annoyed or irritated by it at all. But when others converge on my time, do I have that compassion and that love for them to say that this is the work that God has placed in front of me. Right now. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, absolutely. And I think that whole understanding of how Jesus handled that is just so important for us. I can remember a point in my motherhood where I was so convicted. My youngest daughter at the time she was trying to get my attention and she literally did like what teachers do sometimes where they take, like, their two fingers and they pointed at your eyes, and then they point it at their own eyes. And she did that to me like, like she was being the teacher telling me to pay attention and it really like that will stay with me forever because it was a moment where I realized, you know what, this is an important interruption that I should be focusing on so. Well, distractions can affect people who perhaps are perfectionistic. How how does that relate to each other? 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, well, that's an easy one because we all I think whether you would consider yourself a perfectionist or not, we have perfectionists tendencies in certain areas, right? Certain things we want to keep just like this. So I guess maybe just those interruptions when those come in when those come into the way we didn't think it would be and motherhood man is is just a source of this, right, because we have a way we think it should go and it seems like continually, particularly even as our kids age, they need this in different ways. But there's continual like space that we've kind of carved out. This is mine and they infringe upon that again and again and again in those places are getting bumped into and I think, OK, have I fully submitted this to Christ right or is this my idea of what it should look like? It can be anything because we kind of go in and out of these areas where we're working on certain things. So now I finally have the meal plan mastered. Now I finally have the workout plan like I wanted to and we tend to, if we are not super careful, we're tempted to idolize that like this is the way it's going to be until it gets bumped into by something else, right? And that's when we think, wait a minute. Like what is dictating my emotions here? What is dictating how I lay down my life, so yes, it is great to have a great meal plan and it's great to have a great workout plan. But what's the priority here? Is it the people or is it this goal? So we are continually called to submit that and lay that down. And often times it comes back again. Just like a young child's sleep schedule, you know we get off track and that baby got sick and now we can't sleep through the night. You just want to throw your hands up in the air. But it in time, it does come back again. So it's a lot of patience and grace through that. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, yes, absolutely. Well, you mentioned earlier that, you know, distractions aren't new. We've for generations they've been facing them. Tell us about Paul's advice in the New Testament for how to live amid distractions. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, he was very good at reminding us of the same things. I love his epistles because there's different things going on with the different churches he's writing too, right? But there's clear reminders again and again throughout that when he opens up Philippians 3, he says at the very beginning of that chapter, reminding you of these things is no trouble for me and it's for you, you saying it's for your protection that I'm going to tell you these things that I already told you. And when we open that up a little bit wider and peel back the layers, we realize all of Scripture is doing that right and we hear of God's miracles again and again we hear of the parting of the Red Sea throughout the Old Testament and again through the new. I should go just count how many times we hear about God's faithfulness, the parting in the Red Sea, and when God performed those wonders, he said I want you to tell them to your children and your children's children. Set up these stones. So when they ask you what happened, you can tell what God did. Because he knew our freeing, like, that's the part that I love. Because it's so easy to get frustrated, our own distractions. But he knows how we were made. You know, he knows we were made of dust. He knew we were going to be really good forgetters and he said here I'm going to go ahead and give you some tools for being good remembers and I'm going to tell you the truth again and again, and that's what Paul's doing.  

Mentor Mama 

So we put our immediate, you know, attention on things right now, right here and right now, instead of always orienting ourselves toward perhaps more important eternal, tell us why that's important for us to keep that in mind. 

Katie Westenberg 

Well, because the immediate is always urgent, right? I feel like we live in a world that is very, very focused toward the moment, right toward the minute. That's why these feeds were on. That's why they refresh endlessly. It's just that and it develops in us this desire for new information and none of us are immune to that. When the world goes kind of crazy, there's some massive news going on politically or where you could say COVID like when we're all trying to figure out what exactly is going on here, particularly at the beginning when none of us understood it at all. Right. You're just refreshing. I need more information. I need to figure out how to respond to this. What is this? Every side of the issue all of that and and that desire to know there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. But there's something super important about stepping back from it and this is where I probably had to train myself the most. And think, do I really need more information here? OK. Do I really need? Sometimes the answer is yes, maybe I do. You know there's artificial intelligence and that's new to our world and I'm trying to figure out what does that look like. OK. But at the same time, there's so much information out there that at some point it's not helpful. And is it helping me? Is it taking my eyes off from the greater issue here? So at some point, I have enough information to make whatever educated decision I can at this point, and I can step back and say, but who is God here? Who is God throughout history? Who have I known him to be throughout Scripture? Who have I known him to be in my own life and the lives of my parents or grandparents or those who have led me in the faith and that has worked? That is what reorients me in this? OK, maybe I don't know enough about Foreign Relations or what's going on in these issues, or the economy or whatever else is scaring me. You know what my kids are going to do when they grow up. Any of those things. I can't know that, but I do know who God is and I do know that he's faithful. And so that comes right up against any of those fears or indecisions, or concerns or anxiety I have. And that's what settles me, not my knowledge about the future, but my knowledge of God. So that's why remembering is so critical.  

Mentor Mama 

And I feel like the Book of Psalms is so if you're listening to this and you're wondering, well, how do I go about doing that? What you just said? I think this the Book of Psalms is so great. You know, if you take the time to go through those and really maybe keep a journal of everything that you learn about God. You'll just be absolutely amazed and your security. I think that I know at least it's helped me in keeping the qualities of God in perspective. 

Katie Westenberg 

And one thing I love about Psalms is it's not void of the emotion right of this feeling. Like, OK, I feel genuinely scared about this situation. You know, what does David say? They're coming after me like a dog. You know, like all that. He's very real. So like, OK, I feel this and that's legitimate. But at the same time, I know this true to be true about God, and he does that again and again. He's so good at bringing his eyes around. So I have a friend who's over 70 years old and one time she pulled me aside and showed me her Bible. And she tries to read a Psalm a day and write it by the chapter heading. She likes to put a little tally mark, every time she reads the Psalm. And her Bible is full of all of all these little tally marks just faithfully reading a Psalm, reading a song, reading a song, and and I love intensive Bible study. I love to like let's go in and look at root words and stuff like that. But there's times when my heart is so full and heavy where it feels like you can't. You don't have the capacity for any more information. Right. And I found the deepest and richest times of just sitting with the song and talking to the Lord. I think that's. Really good work for all of us. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, absolutely. I've been listening to Psalm 139 ever. Every night before I go to sleep and I find that so, so encouraging. Well, there's a great verse in the Bible that talks about how we are to take every thought captive, help us and our listeners just to understand like, what does that look like for us today? 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, that's when we hear a lot and it can feel a little bit overwhelming, right because there are so many thoughts. Because there's so much information. So how do I take this captive and one key that I really love, that we often we often neglect in that versus to take that thought captive and bring it to obedience of Christ, right? Like we're supposed to do something we're not just locking it up in a little cage and tucking it away in our brain. You know, we're not Scarlett O'Hara and Gone With the Wind. Like, OK, I'll think about that later. Worry about that later. Like, no, we're going to take that thing captive and we're going to line it up with truth. And that's really what remembering is that's what biblical. Remembrance is it's like I'm going  to call this to mine so I can act upon it. It's an active word that changes our now. So it's not just like and reminisce about the past, it's remembering who God is and that changes my now. So that's what we do with those thoughts. We take those thoughts captive. OK. I am concerned about this. I am scared about the future. I am worried about my kids. That's legitimate. That's what my heart is feeling right now. But what do I know to be true about God? So that always starts with the knowledge of because if we don't have the knowledge of God, we have nothing to bring to remember it. If I don't know, I guess I don't really know if I believe him or trust him. But we have this history throughout Scripture that he's given us and then hopefully in our own life, right, our own walk with him. That's why we recall that to mine. But he was good here and he was true here and here and here. So I know this to be your nature. In your character and I'm going to stand on that truth rather than sit here and a pound of worry of all the things that are right. In front of me. 

Mentor Mama 

That sounds so really sort of exhilarating in one sense, but also makes you feel so secure. I think when you can take those captive and put them in God's hands, right? So tell us. How can we further commit to living in the moment? Then, and living out our mission that God's calling us to do. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, I think it's a reflex, right? We strengthen our reflexes in every way. So this doesn't mean that I never go to those same positions, right? Doesn't mean I've conquered every distraction I'm there, but I think I'm quicker to recognize. Hold on a minute. I've lost sight of this. Right? So I have a kid now that's leaving for college, and that's new unchartered territory for me because I haven't been there with a kid before. So it's not like it's any of those new areas we go into like, oh, last time it looked like this we don't have. That so. So to me it just seems big and scary and I just think it's all a really bad idea. Can't we just keep these kids home and let know everything? Right, you know, so with all that new stuff, how is this going to work out? How is this going to turn out? I don't really know the answers to all of that is he going to have godly friends there? Is he going to have great teacher like, I don't know. The answer is literally, I don't know. But do I trust God to be faithful and that's where we keep on bringing it again and again. Can my reflexes get a little quicker in the unknown when fear starts to settle in a little bit, but any of those legitimate things about health concerns, about concerns with my parents, any of those things come in? Then I can get quicker about the reflex, but what is true about? Oh God. And can I declare that and proclaim that here, even if I do feel fear about? That, but God is good. So could the worst, whatever the worst is happen and he still be good? Absolutely right. So that's what I'm leaning on rather than my control of a situation. And that allows me to release control a little bit because I never had it in the 1st place, right? It could end up this way. It could end up that way, I don't know. But I do know that God is faithful to his people. And he's going to be faithful to me. So just quicker reflexes, developing quicker reflexes, a better habit of what we do when we feel that way, we recognize those feelings and then we recognize our response. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, yeah. Well, it takes some time to like really sort of work on that within ourselves. I know for me personally, there has been times where like anxiety or fear sets in and then but then later on, you know, I realize, you know, I should have put this in God's hands, so you're kind of learning and building, and the more you know and trust God. I think the easier that that becomes over time. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I read an article the other day from the Hartford review. And it was interesting. They were talking about how we build knowledge and wisdom. So it's a completely secular article, but they're studying and believing that how we accrue wisdom is noticing just a recognition of patterns in life. And that's why we usually accrue wisdom as we get older. As we've seen, more things happen. We've had more relationships and we realized, oh. When A happens, B usually results and so we kind of gain wisdom by patterns and I think isn't that the way God created our minds to work in the 1st place? Of course it would work that way, right? And so the same is to be true of him. Because when that happens, God was faithful. And when that happens, we have these, this all these patterns that he's lined up for us and he's saying. I want you to remember, I want you to pass these on to your kids so you know. So we have the same opportunity to do that and that's what helps quicken our reflexes. And then at the same time time. And John, 14, God tells us he gave us the helper, the Holy Spirit, who he'd send in his name to teach us all things and help us remember the things that he said to us. So it's not something we're doing in our own strength. Like if I could just be a better remember all the time, like we have the help of the Holy Spirit to help us remember those things. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, let's talk a little bit about how overcoming distractions and remembering becomes a part of spiritual formation. So you know what difference does it make to try to see our time from God's perspective? 

Katie Westenberg 

OK, I'll give you an example for this in a story when I was writing my first book, that was new to me, right? That was some of that new area I talked about. We haven't done things before, so we don't have the experience of the past like, oh, I'm good at this, right? We try to operate in our own strengths when we have this pathway. But when we're on these new ventures. They can seem kind of difficult, so I was just about six weeks out from launching that book and how it works is you work with the publisher and they have a publicist and they set up these interviews and your schedule starts to get kind of full. And I'm not typically an anxious person. That's not like my natural reflex. Generally. I'm pretty laid back, but all of this seemed new and I'm a mom, and I homeschool my kids and. So the calendar already feels kind of full and all of these dates are going on there and I think the like anxiety producing thing to me was just that they're all going on the calendar and there's nothing I can do about it now. The book hasn't launched, right? It's not like you have company coming if you just stay up till midnight and clean the house, it'll be done. You can't. There's nothing you can do to get it done right now. You just have to let it pile up. So I remember talking to a friend and saying. I just feel I feel like a ball of nerves in my stomach and I'm not used to this and is this just what it's like for the next six weeks? I'm just constantly feeling this ball and nervous about all this stuff. I have to do, but I can't even do it. Now it doesn't even start now, and she said, Katie, I'm going to ask you one question. What are you believing to be true about God? And it made me weep in that moment because I thought all those nerves. I'm thinking he won't be faithful tomorrow and the next day he will be faithful to my family. All these things. I don't even believe I was living as if they were true. Right. And that's the temptation for all of us when we get in that new area or there's unknown ahead, we have that temptation to do that. So remembering is what changes. Wait a minute. I don't even believe this. Right. I believe God is faithful. I believe he is true. I don't have to know how all that's going to work out tomorrow because I know who God is here and who he was there and who he will be the next. So it's just that realignment, that's what remembering is remembering does it brings us back to. But what is true here? What has always been true. And what will be true? Here, rather than focusing on other things that are really taking up ourmental space that shouldn't be. 

Mentor Mama 

That's so good. And we need that honest friend sometimes just to come alongside us, right, and help just remind us. And that was just a small thing she said. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yes, but a powerful tool like one I have not forgotten. Yeah, that's a question. Like what am I believing? To be true, I feel this so. Real, but what am I believing to? Be true about God right now. 

Mentor Mama 

Hmm, I feel like I could like write that down like on a little wooden plaque, you know, to have it remind me, I love that. Well, one of the things that you talk about in the book is making a habit of reading scripture. Help us, like, how do we train our minds? Why is that important to developing this habit? 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, that that is important because what we talked about earlier, we don't have anything to recall from to remember if we haven't first stored it right. So the first goal is always knowing God and that is a lifelong journey, which I'm so thankful for, right? I used to be a little bit discouraged by this, so I would read scripture and I've read through cover to cover many times and I'd open up the Bible and read a verse. Like I I don't know if I've ever read that, like how did I not know that you know and I really believe about reading in general that it's about 95% the place we are in that moment, right? Because the but even more so with the Bible. It's a living and active word there. You're in a different place every time you open that up. So sometimes something will just hit you across the face. I'm certain I've never read that before. I didn't know that. I didn't stop in my tracks at that before. So it's a lifelong journey of knowing God through his word. And when we do that we're just building up the stories of remembering who He is and I mean it's going to look a million different ways. There's a hundred right ways to do it. And it will look different in different seasons, right? Sometimes you have 1/2 hour just to pour in and go deep in the word, and other times it's one sentence that could be on your lips and on your heart. And it's communication with God all throughout the day. And it's more than enough, right? So it's not necessarily a list to be checked, but it's a relationship that I want to prioritize. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And if you're listening to this today, I'd love to encourage you just to check out the Coffee and Bible Time website because we have so many free resources on helping you learn how to read the Bible and understand it. So. that's a great lifelong suggestion. So as we start to kind of wrap this up from a sort of a higher level perspective for those that are listening here today that are like ah, you know, I really do want to sort of confront to all these distractions so they have less of a grip on me. How do how do they go about doing that? 

Katie Westenberg 

My first step would be to ask the Lord's help right? Like I like we talked about, he knows our frame. He knows that we struggle with this, right? But it is his heart to help us with it. He's given us the Holy Spirit and part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control, right? These are things he helps us with. So I can ask. I mean, I believe that as a Father, that is a prayer he loves to answer. I want to remember you. I want to know you. These flooded ideas come in so frequently. Things that want to take my heart and my head away. Right, my eyes that lead to my heart being distracted and so can you help? Can you help me focus on what's matters? Whatever news comes in, whatever stories of my kids, whatever worries that I have that I'm not expecting for day can for today. Can you help me remember you and I truly believe that's a prayer he loves to answer. And then and then we're just going to be faithful about living it out. OK. So convict my heart if it is the phone that's too much. If it is the social media that's too much and I need to put that away. That's a distraction. You know, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Is there something that I need to cut off in this season? Maybe, or long term? Who knows? But I want to be willing to do it because I want to live a life that's focused on you. So just to be honest with him before it, and I really feel like he grows the good work in us from that. 

Mentor Mama 

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think to setting boundaries, at least for me, like when it comes to work or it, it can turn into this, you know, never ending cycle of doing something for people that work from home. Now I think so too. Yes, I think some boundaries and. Well, Katie, it's been such a delight to talk to you on this topic. How can people connect with you and find out more information about your book? But then she remembered. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yeah, the book is available on Amazon and Christianbook.com. Just about everywhere books are sold. And you can find me at my website katiewestenberg.com and occasionally on social media, mostly Instagram at Katie Westenberg as well. 

Mentor Mama 

Excellent. Well, we will put those links in our show notes before we go though, I have to ask you some of our favorite Bible study tool questions. What Bible is your go to Bible and which translation is it? 

Katie Westenberg 

OK, my go to Bible is an ESV wide margin Bible. So I got that one as a gift for my parents when I turned 40 and I kind of have a goal. I adopted this from an older woman in the faith to get a new Bible every 10 years and hopefully Lord willing, I'll have them to pass on to my children. I have 4 kids. So every 10 years, I can fill up a new one and then usually when I do that I change translations too, because I feel like that's just a healthy challenge to my mind and my reading so yeah, before I had the New King James Version and this one's an ESV, and I don't know what I will have next. I have until I’m 50 to figure that one out. 

Mentor Mama 

Yes, and I love you threw in an extra tip there. You kind of snuck it in, but I absolutely love it. That to have a Bible to give to each of your children. This would be such a wonderful gift someday with all their, you know, your notes and things. I love that. OK. Do you have any favorite journaling supplies or anything that you like use to enhance your Bible study experience? 

Katie Westenberg 

You know, I recently started highlighting a little bit I had never highlighted before, but I like to read the Bible sometimes as I'm studying, particularly for writing, I like to read with that like that lens in mind. So when I was reading about remembering, I read I when I was studying for that, I read cover to cover in anything that was about the membrane I use these little markers that are like a crayon-based marker. We've seen those there are a wax based so I use those a little bit, but mostly I just like a pen and the margin and my margins are just filled with notes. I like to read with something in hand because that's how I process as I'm reading. 

Mentor Mama 

Me too. And it is fun to go back and see what you wrote before you know when you encounter it again. Yeah, I love that. OK. 

Katie Westenberg 

Yes. Yeah. 

Mentor Mama 

Katie, what is your favorite app or website for Bible study tools? 

Katie Westenberg 

This is probably a really common one, but I use Blue Letter Bible almost daily. It's such a handy quick thing to access once you get the hang of it. It's so easy to find information on there, but I also use the Dwell app too to listen to the Bible on audio.  

Mentor Mama 

OK, two great suggestions there. Well, Katie, thank you so much for being here today to share your book with us and I think this topic is so important. It's so relevant to all of us. I hope if you're listening today, you feel encouraged by many of these suggestions and I just would encourage you to pick up a copy of Katie's book because you've just literally scratched the surface. There's so much in here that will help you. So, Katie, thank you for being here today. 

Katie Westenberg 

Thank you so much for having me and thank you for the good work you're doing here. It's really important. 

Mentor Mama 

Thank you. Well, listeners, we love you all. We appreciate you listening so much. If you could leave a review, we'd be so grateful. Have a blessed day.