Sunday, August 18, 2013

Devotions, Quiet Time, God and I time = Discipline in a good way

Twice a year I start looking at how to get my quiet time back into my schedule.  It is not easy to make time to have daily devotions when you have a very active 3 and 4 year old in the house, let me tell you!  A few months ago, I tried getting up at 6:00 - figuring I would be able to get ready and have my quiet time before the kids got up.  That worked for one day and then my 3 year old started getting up at 6:30 . . .then 6:15.  I'm not sure if he heard me up or what but that took the wind out of my sail so I started getting up at 6:45 and just getting ready for the day.  Some days he sleeps until well past 7:00 and some days he is up with me.  With that said, I'm really feeling the need to get back into a Bible Study as well as reading my Bible daily.  I need it for me - for growth, for encouragement, for conviction.  I need it for my kids - to see me reading my Bible, to prepare me for the battles I fight throughout the day, and to help me keep my attitude right while raising two boys!  Not to mention that getting up at 6:00 is not my favorite thing but, I'm leaning back towards getting up at that time again and this time, embracing the fact that my kids will see me spending time in the Bible even if it cuts my time short some days because they have needs first thing in the morning (Chocolate Milk and Pop-Tarts just can't wait!)

The time is the easy part, right?  What will I study?  The top pick on my list right now for a Study is a book I started probably 2 years ago and then got to busy.  Well, I need it now.
I am picking this book back up because I am finding that it is easy to be negative all day long.  My perfect kids are pushing the limit right now and, before I can move to books on raising Strong Willed Children, I need to get my attitude in the right place :-)

From there, for Bible Study, I am waiting for Good Morning Girls to publish their next Bible Study which starts in September.  I think it will post this coming week.  I love the SOAP study (Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer) and have some new ideas for the observation section thanks to my dad - thinks like looking for all of the verbs, finding lists, picking out the nouns and more.  Things to help me focus on God's word.  I have other things to add like scripture memory, prayer time, and even journal time for my boys - I've wanted to start journals for each of my boys since they were born and here they are creeping up on ages 4 and 5.  No time like now to get started, right?

I'll let you know how I do once I get started!!! 


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