God is so faithful to meet with this groggy-eyed girl morning after morning. It hasn’t always been smooth and easy, but I’ve recently settled on a quiet time rhythm that refreshes my soul. This post is about my rhythm, how I found it, and the idiot moves I’ve made along the way.

My track record of meeting with God has been spotty over the years.

Despite a childhood spent in a vibrant, Bible-based church, I didn’t build on that foundation as an adult to seek God on my own. I knew that I should have a quiet time, but it felt like an item to check off the list. I sorta-kinda read the Bible in high school, and I definitely didn’t read it in college even though I went to church.

It wasn’t until I was pregnant with our first that I thought, “I need to get back into God’s Word.” To raise a child who would know and love God, I needed to know and love Him myself.

Because God is good and gracious, just as I was searching for a way to get back into His Word, He sent a co-worker who invited me to Bible Study Fellowship. That’s when I began to study God’s Word and develop my own quiet time.

To develop my quiet time, I formulated a plan.

God-and-Jill time has changed over the years, but here’s what it looks like today:

  • God and I meet every morning on my back porch before anyone else is up.
  • I work on my Bible study homework or read through a devotional.
  • I write out my prayers in a journal: prayers about my marriage, our girls, the blog, and our nation.
  • Then, I ask God a lot of questions and bring Him my concerns. For a list of the questions I use, click here.
  • I listen to one hymn on Pandora.
  • I sit in silence waiting for God to speak — sometimes He does, and sometimes He doesn’t.

 

Some days, I scrap the whole system and whine, cry, vent, rejoice, praise, or sit in silence. I’ve learned that my quiet time is about my relationship with God, not this list, so it doesn’t look the same every day.

To get to my quiet time rhythm today, I first had to work through some idiot moves.

I hope that you learn from me and steer clear of these idiot moves.

My quiet time is “me time.” As an Achiever who loves a good agenda, I come with my list of questions, comments, and concerns. Too often, I blurt those out, close my Bible, and leave to wake up little girls for school. I don’t even give Him the chance to speak. I’m retraining my brain so that our time together is shared time.

I should feel guilty when I miss a day. Our God doesn’t work in the currency of shame or condemnation, but our enemy does. When we miss a quiet time, which (let’s be real) is going to happen, let’s not beat ourselves up. Instead, let’s talk to God throughout the day and relax because we know that He holds us together.

It’s not good enough if I only get a few minutes of time in. I’ve gotten it in my head that really spiritual people spend hours a day in a quiet time, but God is in the business of meeting us where we are. He’s the One who knows what we need and gives us what’s best no matter what. If you’re a couple-minutes kind of girl, check out Kat Lee’s Hello Mornings podcast.

I don’t need to bother God with my emotions. For too long, my prayer time went through a checklist. I bypassed the part about pouring out my heart because I believed that only my actions were important to God. This could not be further from the truth because our emotions help inform our actions. So I’ve adopted Psalm 62:8 as “my” verse because it calls me to trust God, pour out my heart, and go to Him as my refuge.

A superficial “Please forgive me for…” is sufficient for a change of heart. I’ve prayed “Please forgive me for yelling at the kids” more times than I can count, but I never got to the bottom of what was going on in my heart. Now I say something along the lines of “Please forgive me for yelling at the kids. I yelled because I feel like I’m a bad parent. Remind me who I am in You and show me how You want me to parent.

God’s greatness and my experience don’t connect. As I pray through the Psalms and list out God’s attributes – how He is good and faithful, a refuge and hope, I make a point to connect how He’s shown Himself to be those things in my life. (And it’s a lot easier than I think!)

God is so faithful to meet with all of His sometimes-groggy-eyed girls. He isn’t so rigid and inflexible that our quiet time must look a certain way or last for hours. Instead, He just loves to spend time with us because He’s our Dad, our Counselor, and God Almighty, whose arm is not too short to save.

I’d love to hear about how you plan your quiet time. What books or resources do you use? What’s the trickiest part for you in consistently spending time with God? Comment below — I’d love to hear from you.

Resources I use for my quiet time

Resources I recommend for quiet time

 

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