How Do Busy Moms Find Time For The Lord?

The other day I had the chance to spend the afternoon with one of my lifelong best friends. We live in different cities and it had been ages since we had the chance to sit down one on one and really catch up. She was in town and visited me at my house. My four kids of course were there, as well as her baby, so the conversation wasn’t quite as focused as it used to be before we had kids, but nonetheless we were there together, in the same spot, finally.

After catching up for a bit, she asked me in a way that was so sincere, and so sweet. “Amber, HOW do you find time for the Lord?”

I paused, because honestly that was a question I’d asked myself so often lately, especially since my fourth baby was born.

We went on to talk about how necessary it is to sneak in a few minutes of quiet time each day. We both agreed that when we start out our days with the Lord, even if it’s just for five minutes, it has the power to completely change our perspective and how we look at the day ahead.

But as the weeks have gone on, that question has been on repeat in my mind. HOW do I find time for the Lord? How do we, busy moms, busy wives, busy daughters, busy employees, busy homemakers and busy friends. How do we find time for the One who is most important?

The truth is, there are certain things in our lives that just take up MOST of our time. And quite honestly, they are pretty ordinary. Preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Changing diapers. Wiping noses. Cleaning high chairs. Dropping kids off at school. Grocery shopping. LAUNDRY. I feel like I spend half my life doing LAUNDRY! As hard as I try to stay on top of it, there usually reaches a point when the laundry might be clean, but its in a HUGE mountain on the living room floor. After a few days of staring at it, my husband and I finally decide to tackle it together. The hundreds of tiny clothes seem to take forever!

I wish I could tell you there was a way to magically save time on all these things, a way to NOT spend half your life doing them.

Unfortunately, there’s no secret. The truth is, most of life is spent in the ordinary.

But what I’d like to spend some time talking about today is how we can look for opportunities in the ordinary. Opportunities for great things to happen.

Just because life is ordinary, that doesn’t mean there isn’t time for the extraordinary.

As moms, it can be easy to sort of get stuck in a rut. Our days look the same, and sometimes I find myself looking for ways to spice up my week. Who can I schedule a playdate with? Where could we go that would be extra fun for the kids? What craft project can I find on Pinterest to do with them? Is there a new park we could go to besides the SAME old one?

All those things are good and great, and even NECESSARY for our sanity!

But I think we can go deeper than that.

We need to expect that God can meet us in the ordinary moments, that He can give us the spice we need.

We need to EXPECT GREATNESS to flow through the ordinary.

So how exactly do we do that? How do we do that when the dishes are piled high, we’re dead exhausted because our little one was up most of the night, and now they are crabby and need to be held all day long which means we can get NOTHING done? How do we expect greatness when it seems like our world is quite literally in shambles all around us?

In this stage of our lives, when we don’t have gobs of extra time to sit in peace and quiet in His presence, to journal, to do an intense Bible study. During this season, I’ve found I need to approach the Lord in a different way.

During this stage, I’ve found that the most fruitful thing I can do is to simply SOAK UP HIS GRACE. To look for Him wherever I am.

Because when everything IS melting down, when I don’t think I can go one more day within the walls of my house without losing my mind, that’s when He meets me.

I would argue that as moms we have a powerful opportunity to experience God’s grace in a more tangible way than perhaps any other person on earth.

A lot of times, we don’t have control over how our day will go. We can try with all our might to make it a peace filled day, to plan ahead, but when tantrums happen, the baby’s teething, and the dog just peed on the floor, our day soon gets hijacked and we have to steer it in a different direction.

As moms, we don’t have the allusion of control. We simply KNOW our day is going to be full of surprises.

The good news? When those surprises come, THAT’S when we experience God’s goodness and grace. In the tears and in the smiles, HE is there.

But friends, we have to look for Him. He WANTS to give us joy all day long. He wants us to know that He knows how our day is going to go, that He is always a step ahead of us, that He can control the chaos when we can’t.

He wants us to remember that the only way we can THRIVE is by looking to Him.

He wants us to recognize our need for Him.

He wants us to EXPECT HIM TO SHOW UP! He wants us to EXPECT HIM to surprise us. Because friends, HE WILL! He will absolutely meet you where you are. He will always show you a way out. He’ll always provide a solution to your problems, even if it isn’t immediate. He will ALWAYS give you enough grace to get through the day. And not only enough to just get through, but enough to CONQUER it!

So I guess my challenge to you is this. As you go about your days, start by acknowledging His presence. Maybe that starts on a good day when everything IS going pretty smoothly. THANK HIM for that gift! Thank Him for the sweet snuggles and giggles with your precious ones. Thank HIM for the opportunity to be a mom. Thank HIM for the good times.

And then when those tough days come, when the ordinary remains, remember that He’s STILL there. He’s still there when it’s 5:00pm, you’re in the heat of your witching hour, and dinner needs to get on the table. He’s there, He sees you working, and the job that needs to get done. He WILL help you do it!

He’s there when you look around at the hundreds of Legos that are strewn all over your house along with all the other toys and treasures that need to be cleaned up. He’s there endlessly picking it up with you.

He’s there when your toddler takes FOREVER to go to bed, when you’re struggling to put a stop to the stalling. He’s there with you giving the extra hugs.

He’s there when the laundry is piled high, when you just want to go to bed but you have to do a load so that your husband has clean underwear. He sees you working hard for your family, and He commends you for it.

No matter the ordinary of your circumstances, God is there! He is always there giving you what you need. And when you acknowledge Him, He will fill you with peace. The peace of knowing that right where you are is absolutely in the center of His will. And there’s nothing more fulfilling than knowing that you are doing just that.

So yes, life is ordinary. And that’s okay. Because when life is ordinary, we realize just how EXTRAORDINARY our Savior is, and just how much we NEED HIM!

HOW do we make time for the Lord? We welcome HIM into real life. We LOOK for HIM. We remember to RELY on HIM! We call out to HIM! We teach our kids about Him. We LIVE FOR HIM and not for ourselves.

How do we make time for the Lord? We live out our calling as a mom, because there is simply no other way to selflessly live day in and day out the way our kids need us to without filling ourselves up with HIS GRACE!

Let me remind you of this one more time. Life is ordinary, but GOD IS EXTRAORDINARY! CLAIM the power of the extraordinary and let GREATNESS flow through you, everyday all day!

XOXO,

Amber

P.S. For more reflections on parenthood and life, follow us on Facebook (Hun Let’s Run) and on Instagram: @ambermariekuiper and @jakekuiper! We’d also love for you to subscribe to our Hun, Let’s Run Podcast! For more info about joining our fitness community as a customer or coach, please email us at amber@mommysmetime.com!