The secret quiet time for mommies

Can I just say it’s really hard being a young mom with young ones in the house and trying to balance out keeping a house clean, changing diapers, doing laundry, making sure dinner is on the table for everyone, trying to find time to read to the kids and play with them, let alone find time to have personal time to spend reading the Bible and talking with the great creator who made the beautiful babies?  Sometimes I get so stressed because I know I just need that time with God but yet I don’t get it, or I don’t get much of it. I feel like most days it’s just a struggle to get up and function throughout the whole day and I know I need that calming peace I can get when I get my time with God, alone.

When I was working I use to not have so many problems with this. I at least I knew in my 10 minute car ride to work and home again I would get that time to myself to think and pray and talk with God.  As a stay at home mom it is honestly the biggest struggle of my life to try and stay on top of my spiritual walk.  I no longer get the set aside time of an hour or even a half hour of personal quiet time. I can try as hard as I want I cannot seem to find ways to get a full amount of that kind of time where my brain is still functioning to actually sit down and read the Bible to comprehend it, or be able to close my eyes to pray without secretly nodding off. There are days here and there were I am blessed to be able to spend some real quality time digging in the word and praying to God but they are few and far between.

With Elijah I have not been able to get on a real schedule. As soon as I think I know his schedule so I can start waking up early to have my personal quiet time he changes it up on me and wakes up three times in the middle of the night so I end up with no energy in the morning or motivation to get out of bed and spend even 10 minutes alone with God before I start my day. Many times I end up feeling like this is just an excuse of being too tired to function. But the truth is my body needs the sleep in order to function throughout the day. So how in the world do we find that time to get close and personal with God, to get the calm emotions only He can provide?

Lately I have come to realize that I need to be thankful for the few minutes I get here and there throughout my day and I need to take advantage of them. Seriously the bathroom is one place that I have been able to steal away a few minutes of time just for me. I don’t get a long time, not even five minutes, but sometimes it’s just the couple moments I am in there that help rejuvenate me. I have a very small devotional in the bathroom upstairs it takes less than 2 minutes to read and sometimes those two minutes are honestly the best two minutes of my day because I know it is God quietly finding a way to speak to me. 

Other times I find that just reading a short Psalm from the Bible or a few verses of scripture from the New Testament where Jesus is talking really speak the most volumes to me. Many times I have realized that even in my long private sessions with God it’s only a couple verses that really hit home for me but I just have longer to think about them and pray about how to apply them to my life. 

Really stay at home moms don’t get lunch breaks or 15 minute breaks in the middle of the day to try and get away and find some peace and quiet.  We have to take it in the short little bursts of quiet that might come periodically throughout the day, and usually they are never the same.  It’s remembering to use those moments when you find them to talk with God and bring your focus of what your day is really about back to Him. Remember that the day is about bringing honor and glory to him and if he is not in your day it’s hard to remember your goal to serve Him.

I am starting to enjoy my little bursts of secret quiet time and I think they are the part of my day I look forward to the most. Not that I don’t love my children or my husband, I just love hearing the quiet things God has to say to me to keep me going on my journey and keep my perspective on Him and not on myself or what is going on around me that could easily frustrate me if He is not controlling my day. When I let God control my day it seems to go a lot better and smoother than when I leave him out of it completely. The secret quiet moments are totally worth finding in your day to hear from and talk with God.