This is a guest post by Courtney Reissig, author of The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God's Good Design. Courtney and eight other trusted authors have contributed to a 14-day email devotional for women called Refresh. Sign up for free today! The following article is taken from Crossway.org; used with permission.
Make God's Word a Priority
It is hard for busy moms to find time to get into the Word. Kids don’t necessarily understand that you need a quiet time. Here are some steps you can take to stay consistent in the Word:
1. See the need.
You need to grasp the need for God’s Word to be deeply rooted in your life. You need to see that you will not make it apart from knowing God through his Word. If that’s not a need that you sense in your life, ask God to open your eyes to that need. Ask him to give you a desire for his Word. Ask him to help you see your need for him, and then to want to know him through Scripture.
2. Have realistic expectations for yourself.
We all have different capacities and we all go through different seasons of life. Maybe you are a mom with young children. You’re not going to be able to go back to your times of reading the Word for an hour or two hours, having an uninterrupted devotional time.
So you must have realistic expectations for yourself going into motherhood. Maybe for you that’s saying, “I’m only going to get ten or fifteen minutes in.” Or, “I’m okay with the disruptions as I read.” Be realistic. Realistic expectations will help you not feel so defeated when your plan goes awry.
3. Make a plan.
When I had my twins I didn’t have a plan. I spent about six months not reading Scripture at all. I saw what that did to my life. I saw how much I needed God’s Word in my life regularly. When I had my next baby I decided I was going to have a different plan. Because I’d already had kids, I knew that it was a little harder to get up in the morning or to read in the evening or to read midday during nap times.
My plan was to listen to podcasts and sermons. I had God’s Word coming in even though I couldn’t crack open my Bible. Sometimes I read a psalm for the day. But I began to notice a difference in my soul simply because I changed my plan and had different expectations for myself. I can’t do what I could do before. But I could do this.
Ultimately, God is faithful. God is faithful when we are intentional about knowing him through his Word.
4. Resist the temptation to compare yourself to others.
Your life looks different than that of others. I had twins so I had less time than others did. One mom might have three kids that are two years old and under. Another might have kids spaced out differently. Learn not to compare yourself to the person next to you. Her capacities and her life circumstances are different. Run the race that is set before you. God will honor that.
5. Trust that God will do his work.
God has promised that his Word will not return void in your life. If you see the need for Scripture in your life, have realistic expectations for yourself, make a plan, and don’t compare yourself to everybody else around you, all that’s left is to trust that the Lord is going to work. God will give you a desire for his Word. He’s going to transform you and conform you into the image of Christ.
Courtney Reissig is a wife, mother, and writer. She has written for the Gospel Coalition, Boundless, and Her.meneutics (the Christianity Today Online blog for women), where she is a regular contributor. She is also the assistant editor for Karis, a women's blog hosted by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.
How a Busy Mom Can Stay Consistent in the Word from Crossway on Vimeo.
Image courtesy: Unsplash.com
Publication date: February 28, 2017