Before I married I had a very full spiritual life. I enjoyed Bible study and personal quiet time. I loved attending Bible school, church, and home group with my fiance.
My first spiritual life shock came when we married. I thought when we lived together we would have much more time to spend in prayer and Bible study. But with both of us working evening shift, getting to bed late and housekeeping chores, we had to find new ways to keep up our spiritual disciplines.
After almost three years of marriage we had settled into a good routine. It was not the same as before we were married, but we each had our quiet time and together we were developing spiritual closeness. Personal quiet time, Bible study, church services, and Christian music in our home went a long way to satisfying my hunger for more of God.
I was totally unprepared for the drought I felt in my spiritual life once our longed for, prayed for, and prophesied baby was born. I had no idea how much time, strength, and chaos one little baby could cause! I loved that child with all my heart, but felt drained of any spirituality I had ever had.
It took time and effort and flexibility to find I hadn’t lost God. Even more importantly, He had not abandoned me. Just because I couldn’t do my spiritual disciplines like I used to, didn’t mean I couldn’t continue my relationship with God.
I just read a wonderful article from Today’s Christian Woman. I encourage you to read Kelli B. Trujillo’s article Dishes, Diapers, and a Deeper Faith. You may like to get her book, The Busy Mom’s Guide to Spiritual Survival from Amazon.com
Here are her main points with my comments:
Commune with God—Any Time, Anywhere
With the limited time and strength we have as moms, we need to learn the knack of practicing the presence of God. Remember that God is right there with us and cares deeply about the big and little matters of our daily lives. We have so many opportunities to commune with God! Pour out your heart as you go about your daily tasks and don’t forget that ‘quickie’ prayers are heard and answered by God too.
“Trust in God at all times, [moms]. Pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.” Psalm 62:8 [my adaptation]
Live in Holy Reliance
Motherhood quickly and often gives us the opportunity to feel helpless. We don’t have the strength, wisdom, or experience to do the huge job of mothering each child we have. Our intense love for our children and the constantly changing needs of our kids bring us to our knees over and over again.
God meets us in our humility and brokenness. There are precious promises in His Word for those who trust and rely on Him. Here are just two verses that can help us rely on God.
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isa. 41:10
“Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord is the One who goes before you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor forsake you.” Deut. 31:8
Receive God’s Parental Love
Kelli wrote, “I remember a particular night, awake in a dark room, nursing my new baby. Admittedly in a haze of sleepy delirium, I had a slow spiritual epiphany: Like I was feeding my baby, God feeds me. God gives me life. God tenderly comforts me! In a deepened sense of understanding that’s hard to put into words, my view of God and how God relates to me shifted in that moment. I started to grasp that my own motherly love for my child was just a small glimpse of God’s parental love for me. In that moment, and in all the provisions of parenting since, I’ve been learning and relearning how much I, God’s child, am loved by my Maker who says to me, just as he said to Jerusalem, “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13).
“As mothers, in all our working and giving and serving and providing for our own children, we’re given a divine privilege: a glimpse, a small sliver of experiencing God’s unconditional, intimate, abundant, grace-filled love for us.”
Live on the Lookout
We must keep our eyes and hearts open to new and different ways to practice our spiritual disciplines. We can find new ways to pray and study our Bible, practice silence and be part of a community. Because of our children we may have opportunities to share our faith with other moms who have never attended church.
This is what Kelli has to say, “Those faith-deepening opportunities are there in your life—they may even be hidden away in parenting’s hardest moments. Keep searching. Behind even the exhaustion and frustration, God is there, beckoning you ever closer.”
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I hope this is encouraging to you in your spiritual walk. Being a mom requires changes in your spiritual disciplines, but with these changes come many refreshing new insights and a deeper love of God and His gift to you. Diane