When I was a young mom, I often received horrible advice on how to survive the early years of parenting. At the time, I didn’t know it was horrible advice. I simply received their advice as wisdom from a godly older woman who had already walked my path. So when I was told not to stress about spending time in God’s Word, I assumed they knew something I didn’t.
The sentiment behind this advice
This advice is trying to say is there’s grace. Which is true.
But this advice is actually the opposite of kindness and grace. Inadvertently, it is saying when life is hard and messy, you’re exhausted, have no energy, your brain is foggy, and you’re at the end of your rope, you don’t need to worry about seeking God.
Phrases like “just pray in the shower” or “God gives grace” make this advice easy to want to follow.
And let me tell you, when I was a young mom, I wanted to hear those phrases.
Those phrases gave me permission to put little effort into my relationship with God. I put so much effort into just keeping children alive and not being a grouchy wife that to do anything else seemed unattainable. I loved to hear it was okay to not spend time in God’s Word. That I could still be a good Christian wife and mom and not set aside time to seek the Lord
But there came a point where I realized I wasn’t growing in godliness as a Christian wife and mother.
I was simply a good moral person. Only the truth of God’s Word and His Spirit can transform me and my house. It was at this point I had to make a choice.
God is either negotiable or non-negotiable in your life, regardless of the season you are in.
If he’s negotiable, then in the hard seasons there are plenty of excuses/reasons why it’s OK for you not to spend time in his word.
If he’s non-negotiable, then regardless of the season you are in, you make your best effort to spend time with God.
And here’s what happens when he’s non-negotiable in the hard seasons.
You learn to rearrange life in order to pursue God. There will be more hard seasons in your life than just the early years of parenting. This hard season is your training ground. Let this season train you well so that God can become your lifeline. Slowly, as you seek him when it’s hard or when you’re not “feeling it”, you have the opportunity to learn and understand how his joy truly can be your strength.
If hard seasons give you an excuse to ignore God, you’ll never have a deep relationship with him.
Spoiler alert. While some seasons may be easier than others, there never truly is an “easy” season of life. If you wait for easy, you’ll never chase after God. Instead, you’ll wake up in the next season of life with some pretty bad self-reliant habits that are going to be hard to break.
Another spoiler alert, just because kids get older doesn’t mean life gets easier.
How do you survive the early years of parenting?
Start choosing now who you will serve.
Will you serve the lie that says life is too hard to chase after God or the truth that God alone gets you through the hard seasons? Deep down in your soul, what do you choose to believe?
Beg God for his help.
The season of life you are in is HARD. You can’t muscle up enough will power to do this on your own. Instead beg God to enable you to seek Him. You need God’s strength and help to make this change.
Start rearranging your life around your time with the Lord.
The playdates, evening plans, and morning alarms all have to be rearranged to help you set aside time to read the Bible and talk to God. Remember, you can’t continue life in the same way if you want to rearrange your life around God. If this is overwhelming, start by signing up for the 3 day challenge below or check out this quick 5 day study over I John or leave a comment on here, and I will gladly send you some resources.
You don’t have to be perfect because God’s grace IS real.
Doing this perfectly isn’t an option. But making it a priority in your life is an option. God isn’t expecting perfection. He just wants you to try.
A amazing first step would be to sign up below for a 3 day email challenge to help you learn how to jumpstart your walk with God even while kids are underfoot and life is demanding. There are ways you can do this and this 3 day challenge will show you how.
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