Category Archives: Praying the Scripture

My Favorite Mother’s Day Tradition

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

By: Jennifer Mullen

Pardon my messy bathroom. I had more important things to do than clean mirrors and toilets.

Last Saturday I rolled out of bed while my family still slept. I packed one of my many Thirty-One bags with some of my journals, my Bible, and my favorite book. Threw on some jeans and a scarf and escaped to a corner booth at Panera.

I sat in that booth for FIVE HOURS! I enjoyed both breakfast and lunch during my stay.

You may wonder what on Earth could I be doing for FIVE HOURS?

Well this is one of many things Gretchen has taught me about taking time to get focused as a mom. Click here to read her article about this amazing tradition I think all mothers should consider.

The Discipline of Solitude: Practicing Spiritual Disciplines Part Two

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalms 46:10

By Guest Blogger: Courtney Steed

One of the spiritual disciplines stand out more than the others for me. Of the traditionally accepted “spiritual disciplines” as exercised by Christ himself, solitude is one that I both am the most attracted to and find the hardest time mastering.

First of all, solitude is not something that comes real easy to us nowadays..right?

What comes to mind when you think of solitude? Quiet? Alone? Wonderful?

How often do you experience solitude? …raise your hand if you just snickered. If you are anywhere near the season I am in (kids at home, married, etc) then you know that solitude is pretty much non-existent. People are around us all the time. Little people need us to help manage their every need, and our sweet husbands need us in more ways than they want to admit it. We have homes, jobs, parent meetings, meals to cook and laundry to do. We are busy. And, dare I say we are getting busier by the day. Continue reading →

God in Real Life: Practicing Spiritual Disciplines Part One

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“As a deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:2

By Guest Blogger: Courtney Steed

I have grown up with God as part of my world. I have memorized His words and have known His laws by heart. I have heard all the bible stories, and am pretty good at giving you a scripture reference to most of them. When I was 14-16 I read up to 20 chapters a day of God’s word. I went to a Christian college. I married a Christian man, and I am in the process of raising three more of them.

God is a significant part of my life, and always has been.

Even with all that exposure to Him, I have started really realizing that I may not really know Him. Know about Him, yes. Know of His promises, absolutely. But, I wonder if I could adopt David’s words when he says, “As a deer pants for streams of water so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms 42:2 Continue reading →

Keep me Abiding

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Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. John 15:4 (NAS)

By: Gretchen Speer

In my post on Monday, I talked about how time spent with God is nourshing versus how idle time holds no “nutritional” value. You can read that here.

Like many of you, I am in the season of mothering young children, four to be exact.:) I am completely aware that quiet times can be few and far between. So how, in our busy exhausting day can we find the time to dig into the Word? Here are three things that have helped me a lot, and that I am still working to keep a part of my daily walk. I hope you find this helpful, and please leave us a comment and let us know how you make your time with God intentional.

1) Memorize Scripture.

I put the verses I’m memorizing above my stove, since that’s where I am several times a day.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.Psalm 119:11

In the middle of the night when you are nursing a newborn, during a busy day potty training your toddler, having His word written on your heart is the greatest gift you can give yourself during this season. Even on days when there are no spare moments, you can still think on His promises for you.

This month I’m memorizing these verses, care to join me? Psalm 51:1-15

2) Keep the conversation going.

pray continually; 1 Thessalonians 5:17

and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:5

This is as simple as having a conversation with God throughout your day. Think on your blessings and praise Him for them. Whenever you feel worry, fear or anger creeping in-tell Him about it. Ask for His wisdom in discipling your children.

3) Keep your bible out.

to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word

Ephesians 5:26

Several years ago when my oldest was a toddler and I was pregnant with our number two, I was struggling a lot spiritually. During this time a friend of mine (who was in the exact situation I was in) was telling me how she was able to have time in the Word. She said that she just kept her bible open on the kitchen table all day. Whenever she had a spare two minutes she would sit down and read several verses. Simple as that, but it made all the difference for her.

Not only did that have an impact on her spiritual growth, but her ever present audience (her sweet little girl) saw her Mom sitting down several times a day to read the bible. I don’t know about you, but if there is anything I want my kids to remember me doing-it’s reading God’s Word!

I want to be sure to say that I don’t think some tv or facebook time is all bad! What we have to be mindful of is the times when we replace our time with the Lord with it. Or, when we are watching things that aren’t honorable and that keep us from setting our minds things above.(Phillipians 4:8, Colossians 3:2, Romans 8:5)

I will leave you today with the words to one of my current favorite worship songs. Let this be your prayer today!

Full Attention

May Your voice be louder

May Your voice be clearer

Than all the others, than all the others

May Your face be dearer

May Your words be sweeter

Than all the others Than all the others in my life

Please keep my eyes fixed on You

Please root my heart so deep in You

Keep me abiding, keep me abiding

Keep me abiding that I Oh, that I might bear fruit

May Your presence be truer

May Your presence be nearer

Than all the others, than all the others

May Your light burn brighter

May Your love go deeper

Than all the others Than all the others in my life

Mother’s Day Tradition

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But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

By: Gretchen Speer

A few years ago as Mother’s day was approaching, my DH asked me what I wanted to do on my special day. Sleep in? Breakfast in Bed? Eat at my favorite restaurant? Hmmmm, more like attempt to sleep in while my kids cry for me outside of my bedroom door. Spill eggs all over myself and our bed when the kids crawl in to share. Wait for 30 minutes for a table, then scarf the meal down in the few minutes my kids are all behaving and don’t need my assistance. While I truly appreciated the motive behind those suggestions, I had no desire to participate! I could tell my husband was getting anxious about finding something that would make the day special for me, and so I decided to lift the burden of the usual “Mother’s Day expectations” from his shoulders. I told him I would think about it and get back to him, and that is when I came up with what is now my Mother’s Day tradition. (I need to note that we go to church on Saturday night so I do have the entire day to work with.)

Here is my itinerary:

7ish: Wake up and get ready for the day by myself while Daddy takes the kids to go pick up breakfast.

8ish: Have breakfast with the fam.

9ish: Pack up the kids journals, the laptop, my bible and prayer journal and head to a coffee shop.

This is where I stay for quite a long while. When thinking about what I wanted to do on my Mother’s Day, I knew I wanted to write in the kids journals. (I don’t scrap-book, I just keep a journal for each of them and update them a few times a year. They already enjoy reading them:) When I’m done writing I pick a verse or two to pray over them throughout the year. This is also a time when I try to pick several verses for them to memorize throughout the next year. When I’m done with that I take a while to write in my journal and read. I usually stay at the coffee shop well into the afternoon. When I leave I am both refreshed and emotionally exhausted!

2-3ish: Either do some shopping or meet some other Mommas at the movies.

4ish: Return home and hang out with the fam.

5ish: Go out to eat at a kid friendly restaurant. (I don’t care where we eat as long as I’m not cooking and cleaning up!)

Either during dinner or when we get home I read to the kids what I wrote to them, and tell them the verses that I’m going to pray over them. I do my best to explain why I picked those particular verses for them.

At the end of the evening, I call my Mom. I like to wait to the end of the day so I can tell her about the day. (She lives out of town.)

A few days ago I was talking to a mom friend of mine and she was saying that she thinks all moms need time outs where they can have their reset button pushed. This Mother’s day tradition has been just that for me. I hope you are able to find some time to reset on your Mother’s Day too!