We know so many of you are just out there in cyber land, desperately needing an older mama to come alongside you and help you figure out how to love your husband well, serve your children, and take care of the responsibilities that come along with being a woman.
It’s a noble, good desire, but there’s only one problem…
There’s seems to be a shortage of real Titus Two women in the church.
At least those who are willing to share their lives with those of us in the throes of young motherhood.
A couple of months ago, the Lord began encouraging me to develop a team of Titus Two moms to share with you here at the MOB Society. I’m so excited to let you know that on the first Saturday of each month, our new Titus Two Team will be sharing their hearts with you, answering your specific questions about being a godly wife and mother!
Each week, we’ll post an opportunity for you to leave your questions for the team on our Facebook page. Our Titus Two coordinator, Gina Smith, will pick one for the month and each of the team members will offer up some wisdom to help answer it.
Welcome to Titus Two Saturdays at the MOB Society!
This Month’s Question:
“I’m a mom of four sons and find it so hard to have quiet time with God in the morning. It’s when I prefer to meet with Him and dive into my Bible, but I’m now embracing this season and realize that I need to seek time with God whenever I can grab it. I would love to hear what works for you and will you share any resources you use to help you stay close to the Lord all day long?”
I’ve never been a morning person, but I especially wasn’t a morning person when my children were young and keeping me so busy. I did try to get up many mornings, even if the time I spent in the Word was cut short. I felt like it helped me to prepare for the day, but there were times that it just didn’t happen. I found that there were other ways to accomplish what needed to be done. I believe there is grace given as you adjust to your needs and your family’s needs.
Spread devotional books and Bibles around the house! In the bathroom, in the kitchen on the counter, in the living room, by our bed. Have them close by so you can grab them when you have little blocks of time to read. Just that short, simple Scripture meditation helps to put your mind on Christ.
Another practical thing that I have known many young moms to do is require their children to have an hour of quiet time in the afternoon. My children spent time by themselves in their rooms and were allowed to listen to a tape, read books, or play quietly. Sometimes they would end up taking a nap. It gave me an opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time in the Word
Remember that we do not need to live under a cloud of condemnation or guilt. When God looks at us, He sees what Christ did on the cross and sees us as acceptable. God is not in heaven looking down at us with His mental check list, tabulating the amount of time we spend in a “quiet time”. As we nurture our relationship with Him in all the wonderful ways that a person can nurture a relationship, we are able to know Him and see Him more clearly.
Nurturing a relationship with God can be a natural thing as we go about our day…reading His Word, praying, and listening to Bible based worship music. God meets us through out the day as we fellowship with Him. He will give you truth and encouragement even when your time with Him isn’t what you might want it to be.
Here’s the thing. God doesn’t really care when we pray but He does care that we pray! There’s no hard and fast rule saying you must be up early for God to pay attention to you. Whenever is perfectly fine with Him because He knows. He is aware you’re a mom. He understands the season you’re in and though it would be nice to have that quiet time in the morning it’s just not always feasible, especially with children in the house.
Your priority right now is your boys so grab those moments with the Lord when you can. Believe me, you’ll have plenty of quiet mornings when they’re grown and gone!
One thing you might consider is to keep worship music playing quietly during the day. It sets an atmosphere of praise and will remind you of His presence during the day. He hears every whispered prayer, even the harried and hurried ones!
My best advice is simply pray whenever you can. In the carpool line, making lunches in the morning, folding endless laundry, whenever. You don’t have to rise with the dawn and have perfect silence and beautiful music and a lit candle to worship God. He knows. Do it when you can but do it because wherever you do it, He’s there.
Being in that very place taught me how to make quiet time “mobile.” Instead of putting devotional tools by my bedside, I put them in a bag and take them with me. Look for quiet pieces of your day in quiet places of your day and make the most of those opportunities. Instead of feeling like it’s second best, I’ve learned to walk out my mothering day with the Lord in every part of it, meeting with Him in the car line, during my boy’s music lesson, or over a cup of coffee in between destinations.
With an audio CD in my bag, I’ve even redeemed time en route. Making quiet time gear something I take along expanded my devotions to sweet the discovery of spending all of my day with Jesus. I’m less likely to leave Him behind in the morning and more likely to do all of my day with Him!
Jan Skaggs
How the Lord must smile over you—a mom of 4 boys whose heart’s desire is to spend time in God’s Word! And a mom who realizes that seasons come and go and you must adapt to each season. Such wisdom!
Here are some things that work for me:
- remember, God will honor your desire to spend time with him.
- finding quiet time is a challenge regardless of the season of life. There’s always competition for our hearts, minds and time. You have lots of sisters in the boat with you!
- pray that the Lord will show you the time—he’s creative! Watch for it. And it may be different each day.
- let yourself off the hook—focus on the time you have, not the time you don’t.
- bite off small pieces of the Word, chew slowly.
- use your daily routine as a prompt—e.g. when I’m in town, I use stop lights to pray and meditate on the Scripture I’ve read lately. With four boys, each load of laundry may serve the same function. Don’t add an extra—use something that is already in your life.
- find the beauty that speaks to you and spend time in or around it during the day. (Praise music re-focuses me–especially in traffic!–and feeds my soul.)
- before you roll out of bed, thank God for a new day.
- last thing before you sleep, thank God for his faithfulness and think of the thing you were most grateful for and the thing you were least grateful for during the day (helps you see how God is at work in your life).
God, who began a good work in you, will complete it!
How do YOU find time time alone with God? Share what works for you in the comments!
What a great concept! I’m looking forward to reading more, spending Saturday mornings deep in spirit over topics that concern all mother’s of this generation 😉
How excited I was while reading this, and how I’m going to love Saturday mornings now to read these posts!!!!! What an awesome idea~THANK YOU!!I thought all the ideas shared were wonderful and I plan to implement quite a few of them, I especially liked the idea of keeping devotional books and Bibles spread around the house. My kitchen is my hub of the house so maybe a Bible cracked open so I can read throughout the day will work.
Love the way you said that, April … “a Bible cracked open.” Let’s crack it open!
love these helper ideas. I am a mom of 7, 5 of them boys. I will definitely try some of these ideas. I have been trying to catch time when I can. my children ages are 17, 12. 9.6.5.3.and 2 I did get a kindle and I downloaded the bible. plus I bought a dvd of bible to listen to while cleaning the house or playing
What a crew you have, Amy! God will bless each time you retreat with Him, no matter how small or “non-traditional” 🙂 And your boys will be so blessed too!
“Do it when you can but do it because wherever you do it, He’s there.”This was fantastic! I will definitely be looking forward to this new series.
I am a mom of two boys (3 1/2 and 6 months). I post index cards with scripture on them above the shower head and at the kitchen sink behind the faucet. That way I can read and meditate on scripture while doing things I have to do anyway. The “do everything without grumbling” verses are particularly helpful at the kitchen sink. 😉
If we consider the number of times we use smart phones,herein lies the biggest answer.One of the best ways is to Install Daily Bread and set a reminder to read it while you have breakfast or lunch as your infant or toddler sits in his high chair having lunch /snacks.I think theres nothing that can compare to getting nourished by gods word.
http://www.godlyindianmom.com/
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Thank you for this post. I found it this morning as I struggle to read my Bible with a one year old crawling all over me. I personal my space my devotions throughout the day reading about five minutes here and there on different aspects of Biblical womanhood, wives,mother’s, keeping house that kind of stuff. That way I stay motivated throughout the day in all areas.
Love this post. Trying to make study time a priority again here. My best study time is at night when everyone is in bed. Oh how I can glean!!! This is hard for me to do sometimes, also. So I am grateful that God is everywhere at all times and never leaves me or forsakes me. 🙂