I am on vacation with my family from July 21st – August 9th traveling in our RV to Yellowstone, Glacier National Park and a few spots in between. I will be sure to have some adventures to share when I return, in the meantime enjoy a guest post from Dana Bailey:
We live in such a hurried, rushed, busy society. We live in the day of express check out shopping and drive through dinners. We don’t like to stop, we don’t like to wait, we don’t like being still. We feel unproductive if we are not doing 3 things at once; at least I do. Within any given hour of the day I am a nurse, counselor, cook, chef, taxi driver and my list goes on. And on top of being the mom, wife & friend I need to make time in my day for the Lord. Surely he understands how busy I am! After all, he made me a mom, wife & friend. Does he really expect me to have time for him too? ABSOLUTELY!
Why should we spend time with God?
Jesus did it! As Christian moms, we are called to follow the example of Jesus Christ in all area’s of our life and even Jesus stopped at times and drew away from the crowds to pray and find rest.
Mark 6:31 – “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
I think this is one of my favorite verses in the New Testament. I read this as a personal invitation from Jesus to come with him and rest. He knew that our rest is only found in him. He understood the importance of stopping and drawing away for rest and solitude. He understood the importance of prayer and he was Jesus Christ! If he did it, we should too!
Be Prepared. When we read, study & meditate on the Word of God we are better prepared for what God has in store for us that day. Let me be clear, when you spend time with God it won’t change what happens in your day, it changes the way you react to what happens. Think about a soldier. How does he prepare for battle? He doesn’t walk onto the battle field in his blue jeans, t-shirt and baseball cap. He has special equipment that he puts on because he knows that once on the battlefield his chances of survival are much greater fully armored than if he had no gear on at all. He prepares himself.
Ephesians 6:13-18, “Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out. (The Message)
We are in a battle everyday! Our husbands and children are not the enemy though you may feel like it at times. Satan is the enemy and he wants our families to fail.
John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.”
Renew our minds.
Ephesians 4:23– “let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes”
We face so much negativity in our day. We need our mind renewed in the things of God. We need to be reminded daily of His promises to us and we need his wisdom to fill our minds so that we can be the moms that God has called us to be. We need to be renewed in the truth that in spite of all the bad that is going on around us, God is right and true and holy.
How do we have our God time when our schedule is crazy?
It can be done. The actions listed below are meant to be done in addition to the Bible study that you are already doing. Yes, I’m assuming that you are already involved in a Bible study. :)
- Pray and ask God to show you time in your day where you can use that time to spend with him. Is there time when you are sitting in your car waiting for a child during practice? Maybe there is too much on your schedule and you need to clean off your plate a little. My suggestion is to make that time early in the morning. The Lord has so much wisdom and blessings to speak into your heart and to give him that opportunity early in your day prepares you much better.
- Use a devotional book to use as your guide. There are so many good devotionals out there. Some are focused on mothers, but there are many who challenge you to go deeper. Some of my favorite devotional authors are Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers, Francis J. Roberts and Cynthia Heald. I have a basket on my desk that has my One Year Bible, devotional, journal and pens in it. That keeps all that I need close by. If I need to go somewhere else to have my quiet time all I have to do is pick up my basket & go.
- Meditate and pray on one verse a day. I write verses that I want to remember on index cards and I put them up where I spend a lot of time; kitchen sink, computer monitor and bathroom mirror. I drove my daughters car the other day & she had a scripture card on her dash. It was nice to see her doing that also. While I’m at the sink, I will say the verse over & over. I will pray it, sing it, say it out loud. I am pressing it deeper & deeper into my mind each time.
- Worship & pray all day! I don’t mean that you should stay in your closet all day praying. As great as I think that would be at times, that is not what scripture is saying when it tells us to “pray without ceasing”. One evening I went to check on my little boy. He was taking a bath and he had been in the tub for quite a while. I knocked on the door and asked if he was o’k. He replied, “Sure Mom! I’m just in here worshipping God!” We can worship & pray anytime we want to. While doing the dishes, folding laundry, sitting in traffic, we can focus our thoughts on the wonderful things God is doing in our life. My son was in the bathtub thanking God for all the great things in his life. I love that! Pray God’s words back to him. I love doing that and I find it to be extremely powerful in confirming God’s love for me.
- Have regular devotions with your kids. We home school, so this is a bit easier for our family. But I know many families whose children attend public or private school and they have regular devotions and prayer time with their kids before they go to school. And I know many families who have their devotions right before the kids go to bed. I am very serious when I say that having devotions with my children saved my life. I wasn’t reading the Bible on my own at one time many years ago. But, I was making sure my kids were learning about the Bible. We would have a 30 minute time every morning. One morning the Holy Spirit used the scriptures I was reading to my children to get my attention. I was never the same after that.
- Commit to 5 minutes of prayer a day. Go to your closet or to a quiet place and pray for 5 minutes. This is a place to start. Over time, it will increase with out you realizing it. I have a prayer schedule to help me keep up with who to pray for. I can’t pray for every request I get everyday or else I would be in my prayer closet all day.
- WARNING! After having your God time for at least 21 days, you will be hooked! You will realize the importance of it and can’t imagine how you got along with out it. Your relationship and knowledge of God will grow deeper. You will be a better mom and a better wife. This is truly a win win situation! You have nothing to lose.
I like to think of my God time like chocolate truffles. The outside is so good! I just can’t imagine it tasting any better, then I bite into the middle. I realize that is where the good stuff really is. When I was praying for 5 minutes and reading short devotionals for my God time I thought that was great. My attitude was changing and I really was a better mom. But it wasn’t until I bit in; when I began to dig into the Word that I realized that as good as that short time was digging in was much better. I then learned how to make more time in my day and realized that a lot of things that I thought I just had to do, weren’t near as important as I though.
Get your God Time! Make it the most important thing you do all day!
