Today’s devo is an excerpt from Grace Driscoll and Ashley Chase’s new book Flourish: A Ten Day Devotional for Moms. To get a free PDF copy, click HERE and to get a physical copy for your gift of any amount during the month of May, click HERE.
May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to mankind. -Psalm 115:14-16
As a mom of 5 Jesus-loving and following kids, there are many things I wish I had done personally to make me a better parent. My greatest excuse was “I don’t have time to invest in myself with 5 little kids!” They were and are a blessing, but they also require a lot of intentional love, time, energy, training, and wisdom.
While this is true, it is also true that if we don’t care for our own spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being, we will not have enough to pour into our marriage first and our kids second. I was constantly running on empty and not refueling with the Lord like I needed to.
My naivety (and the lie from the Enemy) kept me from going deeper until my adult years. Spending time with the Lord needs to be a time that we enjoy, anticipate, need, and get filled back up by! It’s not a “have to” it’s a “get to”.
Praying and spending time in God’s Word help us develop a deeper relationship with Him! In any relationship, in order to get to know the other person, we need to spend time with them. Our God is relational and created us in His image to be relational with Him.
As moms, do we generally have 5 hours per day to study and pray? Maybe not, but we do have more time than we think. As a young mom, I started asking God to show me when I had time or when I was wasting time doing less important things. Yikes! He did, and sure enough there were moments in each day that I could pause (and teach my kids to pause) and pray or ponder a section of Scripture.
When I was consistent in taking those times, I had more energy and wisdom to pour into my marriage and kids…there was a difference between running on fumes and running on faith that God would better order my day to get time with Him and accomplish my priorities too! The common myth is that there is balance, but with kids we often don’t know what each day will look like (sickness, tantrums, fighting, extra-curricular activities). When we make God the priority, He will help us keep our other priorities in order.
Ask God to show you this week where you’re wasting time and where you could be more intentional in spending time with Him (even if it’s short or split up throughout the day).
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