A Season of Preparation: The early church used the 6 weeks leading up to Easter to prepare their hearts. This season came to be known as Lent. During Lent, the early church sought God’s face through prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor. This is a season we encourage Westsiders to eliminate distractions so they can more fully seek God’s face. Here are some ways you can eliminate distractions in order to seek God’s face:

• Fast and pray one meal a week leading up to Easter. Use this time to pray that you would hunger and thirst after God more than you hunger after food. Daily pray Psalm 139:23,24 on your own or with your family. Additionally read and study: Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 7:7-11 and Revelation 3:21.
  
• Stay off social media until after Easter.
  
• Create a “Lent” folder on your phone and put all the apps except essential apps in this folder until after Easter.
  
• Limit your viewing or browsing of news to 15 minutes a day. Then use what you learn to pray for the world.
  
• Go through your clothes and donate some of it to a homeless shelter or some other ministry that ministers to the poor.