I love when the Lord places things I need along my path.
I have really been thinking a lot lately about how I need to be more intentional with my quiet time. Geez, things were so easy in college. No responsibilities and nobody to answer to. I had all the time in the world to read my Bible, Christian-based literature, and just pray. I could easily spend a couple of hours immersed in that kind of quality quiet time with the Lord. Not that I want to be back in college, or anything. I love all the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon my life in the past four and a half years. Life has just gotten busier and finding time to commune with the Lord alone sometimes feels non-existent. I get to a new phase in my life and then when I finally figure out how to schedule time alone, things get turned upside down and I am in a new phase. Not to blame anything on my Lamaze instructor, but I was doing so well until she said that you will start getting really tired the end of your pregnancy and that is just your body's way of preparing you for childbirth. I was having my quiet time while Emily took her nap, but after she made this comment, I felt like I needed to sleep during that time to rest up. Because of course, sleep is the most important thing I could give to my children versus a stronger relationship with the Lord. Oh, the lies that Satan feeds us...
I have realized recently that the only way to schedule my quiet time is to do it before the children wake up. With two kids napping on various schedules during the day, many days are spent with one kid awake at all times. The only way I can be intentional and consistent with my quiet time is to plan it when both kids are guaranteed (okay, not necessarily) to be asleep -- in the morning. I have been thinking hard about this for the past couple of weeks while I have been squeezing in my time alone with the Lord at various points in the day. Then as I was blog hopping in attempts to waste valuable sleep time (something I am a pro at) I came across
a plan for me to get out of bed in the morning. It is nice to know I am not the only ridiculous person who needs a plan to wake up and have quiet time. Do you know how amazing that feels? Actually, it has been a common realization recently. It appears that many mothers have walked in my shoes in all aspects of my life. (Who would have thought?)
Anyways, I am now finding encouragement to get out of bed and start my day off right with the Lord. It is good to know that others who can't wake up have changed their ways. It gives me hope. We will see how this goes...
