Let’s read that title again… SO. How IS your walk? No, I don’t mean your physical gate, I mean, how is your walk with the Lord? If you call yourself a Bible-believing Christian, how often do you ask yourself that question? Probably not often enough. If we’re being honest, most of us probably don’t pay attention to how our spiritual life is until we feel that life is hard or spiraling out of our control. I think for most of us we get comfortable, especially when things are going well. We read our Bibles but don’t pay attention to how many days we missed that week. Attending Church is important until something more fun or interesting comes up that weekend. And don’t even get me started on how many of us show up late to a church service but are always on time to work, events, movies, etc. Christians too often get complacent.
As Christians, we are called to strive to be perfect as Jesus is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) He calls us to holiness. (1 Peter 1:15-16) Sure, we aren’t able to obtain perfection or true holiness this side of heaven but we are supposed to chase it.
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. But what does that really look like? Are we even able to do that? I don’t know, and I’m not interested in getting into a theological debate. All I’m saying is we have to seek the Lord constantly. Every single day. We are sinful and wicked. And we are not able to accomplish that commandment without Him. We must be opening His Word, learning who God is and what He wants from us, spending time in prayer, growing in the fruits of the Spirit, running from the wickedness inside of us, and chasing holiness and perfection. It’s not a one time thing. It takes practice and discipline. When it comes to our sanctification process, we are either moving forward or backwards, there is no plateauing or hitting cruise control.
So what is your quiet time like? The answer to that question can look different depending on your age, situation in life, how long you’ve been a Christian, and so on. For example, if you’re single and work part-time, you probably have a lot of free time. If you’re retired you don’t have the same demands of a schedule that a working parent might. If you’re a morning person vs. a night owl. If you’re an empty nester vs just starting to have children. All of these affect what your quiet time looks like.
For me, as a mom of two under two, my quiet time is pretty short. I know spending time with the Lord is important. I want to do it and I know I need it, but it’s hard in my phase of life to find time to sit still before the Lord, find time to read the Bible, meditate on his Word, and pray without distractions.
Having kids definitely changes the dynamic of your quiet time. You have less time, are sleep-deprived, and ultimately very distracted. However, our kids cannot be an excuse to not spend time at Jesus' feet. Really nothing should stop us from that. Not work, marriage, friendships, stress, tiredness, house chores, or errands. Nothing is as important as our relationship with the God of this universe.
So….what it simply boils down to is, are you making time for Jesus in your life? I hope and pray that you feel encouraged to seek the Lord in your phase of life.
I was raised in a Christian home and was taught that reading God’s word is important to grow in my faith. I memorized scriptures as a child and I spent time reading my Bible and praying but I wasn’t very disciplined. It depended on what phase I was in, what I wanted, and who I was being influenced by.
When I got married I watched my husband wake up every single morning and read his Bible. Because of his example, I committed to reading every day no matter if it was for a couple minutes or an hour. I wanted to build the spiritual discipline of opening up God’s Word and spending time with Him every day. Even though I didn’t feel that I was always getting something out of my reading, over time I could see growth and feel the transformation that the Lord was doing in me.
When my first child came, I was still able to find time to sit with the Lord. Nick and I would spend time chatting about what we were learning and I was free to ask him questions and I loved it. As Zion got a little older, it became challenging on the days our schedule got off track, but overall I felt that I was still committed to having a good quiet time.
But then my second child came. Man oh man, that became tough. Now I was juggling two schedules, more sleep deprivation, and it was hard to find time to dedicate to the Lord with no distractions. After a couple of months, I needed a change. Not only for myself but for my marriage and my children’s sake.
I decided to start waking up early. Now that may not sound crazy to you. But when I would go to bed late because my daughter didn’t like to go to bed at a normal time, and I was up a couple of times a night feeding her, then waking up early with her and my son…getting up early was the last thing that I wanted to do. However, even after a short week, I started to see a difference in my attitude which then made my home more peaceful. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices.
What I find interesting, and I’m just being real with you, my quiet time wasn’t great. It was only about 30 minutes and half the time I was struggling to stay awake. But I still felt that God was honoring my heart in it. And then the testing came. Usually, I could feed Olive then go do my devotions, pray, and prepare breakfast for Zion all before going back to wake Olive up at 7am to start our day. After a couple of weeks, Olive started waking up at 6:45am or 6:20am and it really became frustrating. I was attempting to put the Lord first, and grow in my faith, which would in turn help me be a better wife and mother. How could God allow this? I’m trying to spend time with Him. Why wouldn’t He just keep my children asleep? I became discouraged. Many mornings, I felt there was no point in even trying to get up so I would stay in bed or keep sleeping assuming she would wake up. The discipline wore off, and the discouragement won. Here we are again, struggling to obey the greatest commandment. Now I know there is no condemnation for my sin, but clearly I didn’t love God enough.
Wow, I was so wrapped up in the task that I was missing out on the lesson. I wanted to check it off, to quickly read and pray thinking that’s what was going to change my heart. We do need to spend time in God’s Word to really get to know His character to then be able to mimic that character in our lives. But it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. We learn in spurts by reading but we also learn by living it out. It’s sometimes less about doing and more about being. Being the person that God created you to be. Being present in those difficult situations. The purpose of life isn’t just about living, but it’s about becoming more like Christ daily. Allowing those ordinary, simple daily activities to mold you. And we do this by living out what we read in scripture. So in those phases of life that you have lots of time to pour over God’s Holy Words, do it. Soak it up. Meditate on what you read, and memorize it, because those times in life will come when you are tested to live out what you read. But don’t lose heart! Those are refining moments. They are needed to cause us to depend on Jesus more. There have been so many moments with my children in the last few months that I just want to scream or cry (so basically act the way my toddler does) yet I as the adult have to have self-control. Oh man, the amount of self-control it takes sometimes to not scream or shake my kid or just walk out of the house to get a breath of fresh air (this last one might not be a bad idea from time to time tho). And that’s when it hit me. I need to live out what I read and know to be true. Self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit, or in other words, one piece of evidence that we are walking in the Spirit.
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:16-18 & 22-25
In order to walk in the Spirit we need Jesus in our lives. We can’t do it without Him. I also am a firm believer that the Lord created us for relationships: first with Him and second with each other. We need to surround ourselves with other believers who want to follow Jesus with all their heart, soul, and mind. Women need other Godly women in their lives. To spur each other on and to pray for one another.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
James 5:16
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
Proverbs 27:17
A wise friend of mine once told me that she believes there are three keys to living as a Godly woman.
Find a mentor who is older and wiser than you
Find an accountability partner who will be real with you and point you back to Jesus
Find someone younger than you that you can mentor and disciple
Let me encourage you. If you don’t have any of these, start praying that God would bring these women into your life.
So I’m going to ask some questions again…How’s your walk? Are you focusing more on doing or being? Are you making time for Jesus daily? Are you surrounding yourself with other women who point you back to Jesus? If not, I want to encourage you with the words of Paul:
“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love”
Ephesians 4:1-2 (LSB)
Jess T.
Prayer Requests
That I would focus more on being in this season of life and less on doing
That I would still find moments in my day to spend with Jesus, to make time for Him even if it doesn’t look how I would want it to
That God would bring these three women into my life that live up here
That I would walk worthy of the calling on my life
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