I’ve talked a bit on this blog about how brain fog and other mental battles can affect our interactions or relationships with other people, but does it affect our relationship or interactions with God? Clearly, it can, for sure… I mean, take Scripture memory for one. It can be difficult to memorize Scripture when you can’t remember what you ate or did five minutes ago. Or what about simple Bible reading? When our focus span only lasts upwards of two sentences (if that long), it can feel like we’re failing God because we can’t focus! Even prayer can be difficult when you can’t remember what to pray for, or what to say.  So what do we do?

First, take a deep breath and realize that it’s okay. Just like when I talked about worship in a previous post, God knows exactly where each of us are. He is full of grace and love, we just need to learn to have mercy on ourselves. In life, the humans around you have to have mercy on you, right? Well guess what? God’s mercy and grace are so much bigger than that! And even more than the humans around us, God understands each and every detail of your heart and mind intimately- even better than you do.

The Bible says that in our weakness, God’s power is made perfect. That His grace is sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12:9). That means that it is also sufficient in for our Quiet Times. His love for us doesn’t depend on us. Romans 5:8-9 (NIV) says,

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

Yes, it can be easy to feel like a failing Christian, when you have brain fog or other sickness struggles, just like it’s easy to feel like a failing family member or friend or fill-in-the-blank. But that isn’t true. Yes, we should still strive to spend time with God, and to do our best in these areas, but as long as our heart is in the right place, and we are trying our best, it’s okay if we can’t be the ‘best’ Christian we think we should be in this area.

So what if you don’t think your prayers make sense because of brain fog- that okay! God loves you, and understands you.

While we’re on this topic, I think it’s important to address something else I’ve found in my own life. It used to be that I had Quiet Time every single day as soon as I woke up. However, things changed (and kept changing) when I got sick. Often, my body needed more sleep and I wasn’t able to get up early enough to do it right then. Or maybe my brain functioned better at a different time of day. Or our schedule changed depending on where we were living. Which was okay. You don’t have to do it at the exact ‘right’ time. It’s not about rules and a checklist, it’s about a relationship with God.

Another thing to keep in mind, is simply to keep this in prayer. Tell God your struggles, and ask Him to help you. Often times, when my brain is simply too confused to handle reading (or even doing) anything else, I’ve found that reading the Bible is sometimes easier. God isn’t going to give you a trial that will *make* you sin. He will provide strength, a way out, and mercy. 🙂 (1 Corinthians 10:13)

However, I do have a few practical ideas to leave you with to help make Biblical disciplines easier. For Bible reading, maybe read the same section several days in a row, write it down, or read shorter portions at a time. For prayer, remember that it isn’t about lots of well-thought out phrases, or pious petitions, or eloquent words. It’s just about talking to your King. Another idea is to write thoughts down (or type or voice type if you have joint pain) as you pray or read- it will help you remember both as you go and when you look back on it later.

What about you? Are there any things that help you? 🙂