The Real Devotions of Real Moms - Part One
“Devotional times with God are not about perfection and solitude but about faithfulness and genuineness.”
For most of my life, I’ve been a procrastinator, but it’s not usually due to laziness. Usually I procrastinate out of a desire for perfection and a fear of failure. I don’t want to do something unless I know I can do it well. Now, it is good to want to do everything well, but I’m realizing that this mentality can be destructive, immobilizing me, undermining my ability to try something new, be creative, or even just give my best attempt to the things that matter most. Because when this mindset of, “I don’t want to do it unless I can do it just right” gets applied to my devotional life and my walk with the Lord, I find my spiritual growth flatlining.
Perhaps you don’t have the same perfectionism complex that I do, but if you’re a mom of young kids, you know that it is so easy to find excuses for not spending time with God on a regular basis. I know, because I too have used excuses like:
· The kids wake up WAY too early! If I tried to wake up before they do, I’d be too tired to get anything out of my Bible reading.
· I can’t focus on God’s Word when my boys are relentlessly pounding on things, tackling each other, demanding snacks, and crawling all over me.
· Naptime is the only time I have to shower, sleep, clean the house, and exercise. God will understand if I take some time to myself.
· If I can just make it to my son’s next developmental stage, things will get easier and then I’ll have more time for a quiet time.
Ad infinitum. But the truth about moms and quiet times with God is this: you don’t have to spend hours every day doing inductive studies of the Bible in solitude in order to be growing in your relationship with God. The point of reading the Word is to spend time with Him and to let His love and His ways guide your life! If you only have 15 minutes each day to read a little chapter and pray a little prayer, God can use that! He will take the little that you have and multiply it to feed your soul.
So, to encourage you (and myself!) to find ways to include time with the Lord in your everyday mom life, I’ve interviewed several moms who I know are growing in the Lord as a result of reading His Word on a regular basis. I’m excited to share their devotional practices with you! Spoiler alert: not one of the moms I’ve talked to so far spends an hour of focused quiet time with God every day. But they do meet with Him and they are growing. Devotional times with God are not about perfection and solitude but about faithfulness and genuineness.
And just so you know, the point of all this is not so that you can compare yourself to these moms and get down on yourself for not doing what they do or think you’re doing just fine because you read more or pray more than they do. These testimonials are just the stories of real life moms doing their devotions amidst the craziness that is motherhood. I hope you are inspired to find a new way to get into the Word that just might work for you in your daily mom life.
Whew! That was a long introduction! And now the main event: the interview with my friend Victoria! She is a mom of five, and one of the most generous and hospitable people I know. She is intentional about growing in her spiritual life, and I wanted to know how she managed to find time to read and grow with all those little blessings running around! I was so encouraged by her answers to my questions, and I hope you are too!
Victoria Riepma
Mother of five
“...it’s the best start to my day and the best end to my day.”
How many kids do you have, and what are their ages? I have five children ages 7, 5, 4, 2, and 4 months.
How many times per week do you have quiet times with God? I have quiet time every morning and evening.
How long do your devotional times usually last? Between 15- 30 min of quiet time.
What time of day do you usually spend time with God? Why that time? Morning right when I wake up while I’m nursing the baby. I read the Bible out loud and all the other children trickle in as they wake up. They have learned to sit and listen. After that we sing a few hymns together from the book Then Sings My Soul. They all seem to enjoy this time together. In the evening right before I go to bed I read a small book from the New Testament and a devotional. I choose these times because it’s the best start to my day and the best end to my day. Also, I rotate through children’s Bibles that I read to the kids before they go to bed.
What does your devotional time look like? What do you do to spend time with God? I read a Proverb and a Psalm each morning along with singing a few hymns from the book Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan. In the evening I read a small book of the New Testament or go through one of the Gospels. Then I go through a devotional. My favorite is The Quiet Place by Nancy Leigh Demoss or My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. Following that I like to read a book pertaining to my stage of life to help and encourage me. So right now I just finished Learning Contentment by Nancy Wilson and The 4 Hour School Day by Duranda Wilson. Both excellent! A tip for fellow moms: try to keep a Bible in every room so that when you have a spare moment you can open it up and read it. Of course you can read it on your phone, but when your children see you reading an actual Bible, that will stick with them for the rest of their life! (Not to mention they don’t know if you’re reading your Bible on your phone or looking at social media.)
How else do you connect with God and His Word when you aren’t able to have a sit-down quiet time? Listening to worship songs, kids’ Bible songs, or the Bible or podcasts (my favorite is At Home with Sally by Sally Clarkson) while doing the dishes or cooking or getting ready fills my mind with Truth. Also, practicing contentment by thanking Him for every little thing in my life is how I’ve learned to really find connection with the Lord. Before my kids go to sleep they have to give me five things that they are thankful for. My hope is that they grow up to be thankful adults.
Is there a verse or truth that calls you back to having quiet times? John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the Truth; Your word is Truth.” Also I love Psalm 119... it’s like a big favorite meal that I just want to devour.
What is something God has been teaching you lately? God has been teaching me contentment. I’m going to paraphrase some of what Nancy Wilson wrote in her book Learning Contentment: “Contentment: a deep satisfaction with the will of God.” I’m learning that God has given me each circumstance on purpose and that difficulties are not for nothing. They grow us. And this growth is faster when we are stewarding the difficulties with contentment. The normal state of man is certainly not contentment. We creatures can find much to complain about in all circumstances. But the apostle Paul learned to have control over his own spirit in every situation of life. See 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 for a description of his circumstances.
I’ve also been learning what it really means to share. We tell our kids, “You need to share your toys, books, and dress up clothes.” But what does sharing mean for me? How can my kids see me demonstrating how to share? A couple years ago I had to take in a friend to live with us for 2 months or she would end up homeless. This was when I was 9 months pregnant with our 4th child. I was kicking and screaming inside, but God tenderly said to me, “You need to share your space and your time with this person who is hard to love.” God taught me a lot with having her stay with us. Little did I know that God would have me take in my parents to live with us after some pretty hard circumstances my parents had to go through. It’s been almost a year now that they have been living with us. With no end in sight of them moving out, I’m choosing each day to have a good attitude and treasure this time with them. By God’s grace, He has been helping me to share my space and my time - two things that I cling too tightly to. As the old hymn goes, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.”
Isn’t that beautiful? I absolutely adore that little scene of Victoria reading the Psalms and singing hymns with her kids in their pajamas every morning. It is so memorable, real, sweet, and completely do-able. What an investment in the lives of her kids, and in the spiritual atmosphere of their home. I’m now trying to do that with my boys!
Let me know in the comments: What encouraged you in Victoria’s interview? Are there any ideas you’d like to try to implement in your devotional time?
