In talking with women of different ages and seasons of life, a common struggle we all seem to share is finding time to spend in the Bible and in prayer. I remember in high school in my small group that my mom led, many of us high school girls were struggling to find time to have a quiet time with the Lord. I remember my mom telling us that there will never be a season of life that is easier to have a quiet time than right now!
Recently I was around a group of women ranging from college students to single working women to married women with kids to married women without kids. Many of the women expressed their desire to be in the Word more, yet admitted to struggling with finding the time. If you’re struggling too, you’re not alone!
Two takeaways from both of these stories:
1) Right now is the best time to start having a consistent quiet time (it won’t get easier… you have to get in the habit now!)
2) We’ll never just “find time” to spend with the Lord; we have to make time
As you know, I’m a mom of three, ages three, two, and seven months. My house is seldom “quiet” (or at least not for very long!). I’m learning this year particularly about the importance of getting up earlier in order to have time reading my Bible and praying before I need to take care of the kids.
I really don’t think that morning is the best time for everyone, but I do know that it is beneficial to me. When I start the day right by spending time with the Lord, I see that I have more energy and patience and am less likely to snap (oh, I still do though, and I am thankful for the grace that’s there for that!).
Honestly, when you have a newborn or a crazy work schedule or life is just happening at warp speed, it can be tricky to find a consistent time each day. When Jude was younger, I read while I was nursing him in the mornings. Sometimes I had the girls piled up on the bed too. These quiet times weren’t “great,” but I was striving to be faithful.
I love what Lydia Brownback says in Joy:
Busy mothers of young children have perhaps the hardest time maintaining a vital, joy-filled faith. Exhaustion, lack of adult companionship, and the endless routine of mundane tasks leave little time to sneak off alone for Bible reading and prayer…. Mothers or not, we all go through seasons in which our faith walk seems to be in mere maintenance mode rather than thriving and vital. It is a testing of our faith. At such times we find out whether our faith rests on the truth of Christ or on the good feelings we get after a lengthy quiet time. Although time alone with God in the Word is vital, ultimately, being upright in heart means simply relying on Christ, and so long as we are doing that, we are growing spiritually.
I was in “maintenance mode” for that season when I was reading my Bible while nursing Jude in the mornings. Now, I’m starting to emerge from that, spending more time earlier in the day alone and uninterrupted, reading Scripture, journaling, and praying.
I’m finding Instagram a great place to share what God is teaching me, and I have recently been challenged by Kristin to share what I read each day for 31 Days (every day in May). I use the hashtags #lampandlight and #shereadstruth, if you want to join in on sharing about your quiet time each day!
Here are some tips for Making Time for Quiet Time:
-pick a time (preferably the same time each day)
-pick a place (somewhere where you won’t be distracted)
-choose a book of the Bible (reading through Scripture in its context is better than just jumping around)
-grab a journal for writing down what you’re learning
-be consistent
-give yourself grace (if you miss a day, all is not lost!)
As I have endeavored to be faithful in spending time in the Bible in 2014, I am seeing my love for God’s Word grow even more. It takes effort and sometimes sacrifice to make time for your devotions, but I promise, you’ll never walk away thinking that it wasn’t really worth it! God’s Word is living and active and it will transform you!
I agree that it is never easy, and one never just “finds the time”, we have to make time. One encouraging thing for me was something I learned from a speaker, Heidi St. John, at the homeschool convention last summer. She is a mother of 7 and homeschooling, and she realized one day that she didn’t have to have a set time, all alone, quiet, and so on in order to be in the Word every day. She sat down with her kids, and they all read the same passage of the Bible, and then they shared insights. I don’t know if that always is her quiet time, but for a season of her life it was. That is where I am at these days. My older kids and I have worked through 2 books of the Bible (1 & 2 Kings), and then we studied the Passover and Communion, and that lead to their questions about how a person knows if they are saved or not, so we moved into 1 John, and now we are getting ready to read passages about Christians growing and then we will move on to studying baptism. Then we are going back to read more O.T. stories and see what God did so they (and me too!) can learn more about God. It has been a growing experience for me to have to look up Scripture verses to answer their questions (my son wanted to see verses that SPECIFICALLY said God forgives our sins when we ask him to), and to pray for wisdom when I’m not sure what to tell them or how to find verses to answer their questions. It has been rewarding to watch God lead me to the right verses and give me ideas on how to present Scriptural truths in ways they can understand and grasp (they are 6 and 7 years old). I know it is not the same as individual quiet time, but it is still time in the Word and I feel like I am growing from this.
I love this so much! Isn’t God’s grace so wonderful, that while we are teaching and training our children in God’s Word, He is feeding our own soul as well? Such a blessing! Thanks for sharing this, Sally.