Hands down, my absolute favorite part of the day is the time I get to spend with Jesus each morning before everyone else wakes up.
This is a new thing for me. My entire life I grew up in a church and knew that you're supposed to have devotions daily. I would do it on and off, but never consistently. The church we attend {Antioch} is huge on daily quiet time with Jesus, and until we started going and I started realizing that my relationship with my maker could only go 'so' far without this, I never really grasped the concept. Just recently I have been encouraged by my friends through Life Group, and through our "young moms with young kids" bible study at church. All the sudden I had this growing desire to get to know Him, to really get to know Him.
I love this time of day. While most people are still sleeping, I am able to worship, engage, read, cry, and dig deep into His word. By the time my boys wake up, I feel refreshed. I am able to greet them with a smile, instead of groaning and begging them to go back to sleep so that I, too, could sleep just a while longer and waking up cranky when they don't.
This is all still new to me, and I'm still figuring out what this really looks like. There's also days {like this morning}, that about 5 minutes into my time with Him, Cohen woke up screaming which meant Jaxon was up shortly after. So I know that there will be days that my time with Him is short and sweet, but other days that I can bask in His presence and soak up that meaningful time. There is no guilt and no condemnation in the "short but sweet" days, as I know those days are full of grace and He loves me the same.
On Monday morning I came across this verse that I want to share with you. I have decided to make it my life verse, as I have never done that before and have always wanted to. I was so excited to find it and I literally read it over and over again and once Tyler woke up, was so excited to share it with him also.
Romans 12:12
"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Joyful in the hope that He's given us. Patient in the hard times. Faithful in prayer through it all.
So excited to be doing this each day. If you're not already, I would encourage you to carve out a time in your day to do the same. It is so refreshing and life giving.
On that same note, I am looking for some ideas on some books/devotionals that I can be doing during this time. Anyone have a recommendation?
Ahhhh, I'm so excited that you are convicted and growing! I've been working on the same thing. Maybe we can keep each other accountable. So far I've found that doing it first thing in the morning is best. I'm doing the Joyce Meyer book "The Secret Power of Speaking God's Word".
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing! I'll be praying for you.
Not sure if this is the type of thing you are looking for, but I put it out there. I LOVE Sarah Young Jesus Calling book, she even has an iPhone app. I want to get Joyce Meyers hearing from GOD each morning book as well!Hope these help ya:)
ReplyDelete~Brooke
I need you to encourage me and keep me accountable in doing this.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that I need to do "Experiencing God" again, even tho i did the teen version with Ken Paynter. I've also heard that "Jesus Calling" book is good.
But one that I can attest to changing my life is "He Restores My Soul" By Jennifer Kennedy Dean. SO good. You'll have to order it on Amazon, it's not found in many stores.
SO GOOD. Love that you're doing this!
I don't have a favorite devotional, but I do love Rob Bell's books. He's not so conservative, but his theology is sound, and his words have a tendency to go straight to the heart.
ReplyDelete